28-05-2016 - The Hindu - Shashi Thakur

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Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad, Mal appuram and Mumbai

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www.thehindu.in ● Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 6 ● No. 127 ● CITYEDITION ● 24 Pages ● Rs. 8.00

saturday, may 28, 2016

METROPLUS MELANGE4 Pages

BJP has delivered ondecisive government,says Amit Shah2

Misa Bharti may besent to Rajya Sabhainstead of Rabri DeviPage 12

Maruti to recall 75,419Baleno cars for faultyairbags and fuel linesPage 15

Rafael Nadal pulls outof French Open dueto wrist injuryPage 17

KOLKATA: With several nation-al leaders across the politicalspectrum, including the

Chief Ministers of Uttar Pra-desh, Delhi and Bihar pre-sent at the swearing-in cere-mony of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeehere on Friday, voices wereraised for a new federal frontagainst the Bharatiya JanataParty.

“I am a commoner, a lessimportant person. But I willhelp all of them, no problem,if anybody wants my help.Let me work for the people,”was Ms. Banerjee’s guardedresponse.

Open air ceremony

Though Ms. Banerjee wasbeing sworn in for the sec-ond time, the occasion wasno less historic nor the set-ting less grand.

Unlike the first time whenshe took oath at the Raj Bha-van and walked amid surgingcrowds to the Writers’ Build-ing, this time thousands as-sembled on the busiest arte-rial road in Kolkata to

witness the ceremony.Ms. Banerjee, along with

41 other MLAs, was adminis-tered the oath on the RedRoad, which has been closedfor three days. In batches of five, 29 Cabinet Ministers,eight Ministers of State andfive Ministers of State withindependent charge weresworn in. While the swear-ing-in at Red Road was aunique event, it was followedby Ms. Banerjee taking oathin the name of “Ishwar andAllah”. Taking a cue fromher, some other Ministers al-so took oath in the name of “Ishwar and Allah”.

Lalu’s callLater, addressing the

media at the function, Rash-

triya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav raised theissue of a federal front andcalled upon all secular par-ties to unite against the BJPand the RSS.

Former Jammu and Kash-mir Chief Minister FarooqAbdullah said, “There is ev-ery possibility of such a frontthat might save India fromdisaster being formed in thenear future.”

Asked if Ms. Banerjeecould head such a front, Mr.Abdullah said: “There aremany who can head thefront, Mamataji is one of them. She has worked for asecular India, a unitedIndia.”

Samajwadi,AAP and JD (U)leaders took partin the function

Call for federal front atMamata’s swearing-in

SHIV S AHAY SINGH

WARMING UP: Mamata Banerjee greets Arvind Kejriwal, DelhiChief Minister and AAP chief, and Nitish Kumar, Bihar ChiefMinister and JD(U) leader, in Kolkata on Friday. —PTI: PHOTO

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: The annual budgetof Nepal will be presented byPrime Minister K.P. SharmaOli’s government on Saturdayamid political uncertaintycaused by the call for changein government given by Mr.Oli’s chief ally, Maoist leaderPushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Pra-chanda.’

On Thursday, Mr. Prachan-da had said, “Due to the pre-sent political situation andthe nine-point agreement

with the CPN-UML, there isthe possibility of forming anew government under myleadership.”

New regime possible in Nepal,says PrachandaSPECIALCORRESPONDENT

TRUST DEFICIT | PAGE 14

Historic gesture

FOR PEACE: U.S. President Barack Obama bids farewell to Japanese PM Shinzo Abe afterlaying a wreath in front of a cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atom bomb attack inHiroshima on Friday. — PHOTO: AP (REPORT ON PAGE 14; EDITORIAL: MR. OBAMA AT HIROSHIMA)

CHENNAI: The Indian Air Force onFriday successfully test-fired aland-attack version of thesupersonic cruise missile,BrahMos, in the western sector.The flight trial met its missiongoals, an official release said.The missile destroyed adesignated target.

IAF tests land-attackversion of BrahMos

NATION | PAGE 9

NEW DELHI: The Centre is set toregulate private employment

agencies by amending thecontract labour law of 1971,Union Labour Secretary ShankarAggarwal said. The agenciesthat “dupe workers” would soonbe weeded out.

Norms to weed outfraud in hiring agencies

BUSINESS | PAGE 15

BRIEFLY

NEW DELHI: The government isverifying the authenticity of a set of documents reco-vered from a controversialmiddleman to decide if heshould be charged undercriminal sections, includingthe Official Secrets Act(OSA), a senior governmentofficial told The Hindu.

He said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) hadwritten to the Ministry of Defence to determine

whether a criminal casecould be registered againstSanjay Bhandari, who dab-bles in consultancy and liais-on services in the defencesector. The query, the officialsaid, was prompted by the re-covery of certain govern-

ment documents from hispremises during a searchconducted by the IncomeTax Department in April.

Suspicions over firms

The search was carriedout in connection with suspi-cions regarding eight firmsassociated with Mr. Bhanda-ri, he said. The middlemanhad set up a flagship compa-ny Offset India Solutions in2008.

Defence Ministry to take a callon charges against middleman V IJAITA SINGH Authenticity of

documents recoveredby IT Departmentfrom his premisesbeing verified

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: Two days after avideo showing a minor boybeing assaulted and brutal-ised by five men in south-west Delhi’s Inderpuri sur-faced, the police on Fridayslapped sections of the Pro-tection of Children from Sex-ual Offences (POCSO) Actagainst all the accused.

The boy (16) was sent for a

second medical examinationto ascertain allegations of unnatural sex levelled by hisfamily. However, the policesaid the medical report wasnegative.

“We have added Section 4,which deals with penetrativesexual assault, and Section 12(sexual harassment of achild) of POCSO in the case,”said Deputy Commissionerof Police (South-West) Sure-ndra Kumar.

He said Section 377 (un-natural sex) of the Indian Pe-nal Code will also be added if the video proved to begenuine. “Since the medicalexamination is not support-ing the boy’s claim, we willhave to wait for the forensicreport on the veracity of thevideo clip,” said Mr. Kumar.

The police have alreadyarrested four accused -- Su-

mit, Aman, Raju and Shan-kar, all residents of the same JJ colony where the victim

lives -- but the main accused,Sunny Rana, is still abscond-ing. The five men have alsobeen booked under the ITAct for allegedly making thevideo public.

The victim was allegedlyheld captive by the men onMonday after he entered intoan argument with them oversome issue. The accused as-saulted him and shoved abeer bottle into his privateparts. They also allegedly pa-raded him naked in the lanesof the JJ colony.

An FIR was lodged onThursday after the video sur-faced on social media. Ac-cording to the boy’s family,the initial FIR mentioned on-ly assault and wrongful re-straint. There was no men-tion of beer bottles, allegedlyused to torture the boy, de-

spite the matter reaching thepolice after the video wentviral.

Inderpuri assault: policeadd stringent chargesSHUBHOMOY SIKDAR

SCENE OF CRIME: The house inwhich the assault on theteenager took place. — PHOTO:

SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT (SEE ALSO PAGE 3)

NEW DELHI: Registration for ad-mission to undergraduatecourses in Delhi Universitywill start from June 1, a weeklater that the usual schedule,and the process will be com-pletely online this year.

A 24-member admissionscommittee, which was work-ing on the admission policy forthis year, had earlier said thatthe registration for undergrad-uate courses would start byMay 28, but the university au-thorities decided to open it

from June 1 after the registra-tion process for Masters cours-es in DU i s over.

“The university will be com-pleting the registration of

Ph.D, M.Phil and postgraduatecourses based on entrance ex-amination on May 31. The var-sity will launch the registra-tion of undergraduate coursesimmediately after that on June1,” said DU Registrar TarunDas in an official statement.

According to the statementreleased by the university onFriday, students applying tothe university under differentcategories, including ExtraCurricular Activities (ECA),sports, Kashmiri migrants andCW (defence), will also have toapply online.

“The eligible candidates areinformed that the registrationprocess for undergraduatecourses will be completely on-line, including all the catego-

ries. The candidates will be re-quired to upload all

self-attested documents on-line,” Mr. Das added.

Till last year, the registrationprocess did not involve up-loading documents along with

the form, but from this year,the applicants will have to up-load all relevant documentssuch as Class X board examin-ation certificate and marksheet, Class XII mark sheet,character certificate, transfercertificate from school, recentphotograph, scanned copy of signature and SC/ST/OBC cer-tificate, if the candidate is ap-plying under the category.

“Students taking admissionunder sports quota or ECAquota are required to uploaddistinction certificates of thelast three years in descending

order. For Kashmiri migrantquota, a migrant certificatefrom the divisional officer isrequired,” the statement fromDU added.

There is, however, no clarityon the admission policy so far.Some of the issues botheringthe students are -- the formulafor calculation of best of fourpercentage, centralised trialsfor admission under sportsand ECA quota, and the num-ber of cut-off lists, amongothers.

“The details of the registra-tion process and subsequentprocedures will be available inthe bulletin of information,which will be uploaded onlinethe same day,” the statementread.

The admission process,which usually continues tilltwo to three months, is likelyto extend further this year asthe registration is starting late.

DU admissions for UG courses to begin from June 1K RITIKA SHARMA SEBASTIAN

Candidates will be requiredto upload all self-attesteddocuments

NEW DELHI: After strippingStates of their authority toconduct undergraduatemedical and dental entranceexams and compelling themto accept the National Eligi-bility cum Entrance Test(NEET), the Supreme Courton Friday refrained fromstaying a government ordi-nance diluting its judicialorder.

SC declines to put on hold NEET ordinance

LEGALCORRESPONDENT

DETAILS ON PAGE 12

SRINAGAR: Six militants and asoldier were killed in two gunbattles in Kupwara andBaramulla districts of northKashmir on Friday. A housewhere the militants were hidingwas blasted.An Armyspokesman said here that fourinfiltrators were killed inNowgan Sector of Kupwara inan operation launched onThursday.

Six militants, soldierkilled in Kashmir

NEWS PAGE 13

NEW DELHI: In many ways it wasalmost a repeat of the Decem-ber 16 incident in North Delhion Friday evening, but thistime round there were twoalert policemen at hand.

A young boy and a girl whohad taken a lift in a car had aharrowing time as the men

threw the boy out soon afterand drove off with the girl.

Only this time there was apolice vehicle just at the rightspot.

It was later found that all thethree men, who have sincebeen arrested, had previouscriminal records.

Police foil abduction bid, rescue girl

S TAFFR EPORTER

DETAILS ON PAGE 3

KATHMANDU: A 58-year-oldIndian mountaineer, who wentmissing on Mount Everestnearly a week ago, was onFriday found dead whileattempts were being made tolocate another Indian climberwhose body was reportedlylying above 8,000 metres onthe world’s highest mountain. Ateam of six Sherpas retrievedthe body of Paresh ChandraNath above the camp IV.

Indian mountaineerfound dead



CMYK

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CITY 2 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

D E L H I

May 28,Sat May 29,Sun May 30,Mon

RISE 05 25 SET 19 13 RISE 05 25 SET 19 14 RISE 05 25 SET 19 14

RISE 00 00 SET 11 01 RISE 00 19 SET 12 00 RISE 01 00 SET 13 01

Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Mukund Padmanabhan (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

Phobia makes for a nerve-wracking ride. It sucks youinto the world of artist Me-hak (Radhika Apte) who suf-fers from an anxiety disor-der called agoraphobia,following a sexual assault bya cab driver. The disorder isto do with the fear of unfa-miliar spaces and can immo-bilise a person to an extentthat they’d not even step outof their own home.

Even as her sister debatesif Mehak needs institutionalcare, her close friend Shaan(Satyadeep Mishra) relo-cates her to a friend’sstrange, artistically run-down house. It is peopled bya black cat, the ghost of adead woman, and appari-tions and spirits rising upfrom a bathtub. Then thereare many whispers and voic-es rising up from the drain-

pipe. If that wasn’t enoughthere’s a weird neighbour,Manu (Ankur Vikal), who isseeking laughter therapy torid himself of his own anxie-ties, and a kooky lady search-ing for a non-existent hus-band.

Smart twist

In a nutshell: all the usualclaptraps of a horror film.No wonder you begin toquestion things rather ratio-nally: why did the friendshift her to the strange house(don’t most families in hor-ror films do this out of sheernecessity of plot?) or whyleave her all alone when shehas a history of illness (an-other convenient contri-vance of the plot).

Why this wilful courtingof trouble? All to take the

story and chills and thrillsforward? But then in Phobianothing might quite be whatit seems.

The film uses the handytools and devices of scarymovies and turns them onthe head in the smart twistof a climax. Of course, thefinale leaves many ques-tions unanswered, leaves

things unexplained and canmake many in the audiencefeel utterly befuddled. Aclose reading of the scriptmight even reveal many asloppy plothole, but theoverriding feeling of fear isso consistently maintainedthat you forget everythingelse.

Phobia is relentlesslyscary. It’s as though you areliving within the mind of Mehak, her unending claus-trophobia and suffocationbecome your own.

There is just one smallwindow of comic relief inthe film: a séance scene, adesperate attempt to call thespirits and talk to the dead.And just when you relax andlaugh through your jolts andshocks it again puts you

back in the panic mode.Much of the terror resides

in Radhika Apte’s eyes. Sheis the film, all by herself,that too in just a single set-ting.

The film draws on the es-sential horror from her. Theperformance is an externalmanifestation of the work-ings of her inner mind. AndApte is sensational as awoman living with her owndemons: be it fighting withher sister or being flirta-tious with friends, slurringon her speech or travellingmiles (metaphorically) toleave garbage bags just out-side her house, or just beingradiantly vulnerable.

In her we get a radicallyinventive scream queen. Allhail her!

Radhika Apte excels as an inventive scream queen in nerve-wracking Phobia

Phobia

Director: Pavan KripalaniStarring:Radhika Apte,Satyadeep Mishra, AnkurVikalRun time: 99 mins

★★★★★

Where fear is a constantN AMRATA JOSHI

SENSATIONAL: Much of the terror resides in Radhika Apte’s eyes. She is the film, all by herself, thattoo in just a single setting.

So has RGV got his mojoback? The jury is still out onthat. However, I found Vee-rappan much more watcha-ble than any of his recent out-ings.

Not for the gunshots, theaxes and knives or the oozingblood; not for the protractedvoiceover at the start to giveus the back story; not for theinterminable confrontationsand chases through pano-ramic mountains, trenchesand jungles; not for the pore-revealing extreme close-upsof actors (note the one inwhich a strand of hair acci-dentally gets into Lisa Ray’s

mouth and poor Ray [whoplays a police officer’s wife]has to chew on it while chew-ing on her lines; not for theloud background score witha song that plays on Gulzar’s“ jungle jungle baat chali hai

pata chala hai”; not for thebrutality heaped on humansand animals alike; not for thecelebration of violence andcertainly not for the romanti-

cisation of a bandit king.Veerappan is watchable

because it belongs to Muthu-lakshmi (Usha Jadhav). Jad-hav is excellent as Veerappan(Sandeep Bharadwaj)’s wife:be it cooking in the junglesfor her husband or bravingpolice torture for him or lov-ing him despite his indiscre-tions. She retains the inno-cence and vulnerability even

as she reposes trust in a wom-an who is actually out to useher to avenge her husband’sdeath at the hands of Veerap-

pan. Jadhav also stands out be-

cause she acts with her mindand soul while the actress onthe opposite end, Ray, onlylets her plumped up lips doall the talking, that too withan odd, speeded up cartoon-like touch. Quite a bit of thefilm is the tale of these twowomen. Wish it had re-mained so.

Two women and a gangsterRam Gopal Varma’sbiopic about thenotorious sandalwoodsmuggler is a pacywatch owing to UshaJadhav’s performance

Veerappan

Director: Ram Gopal

VarmaStarring:SandeepBharadwaj, Sachiin Joshi,Lisa Ray, Usha JadhavRuntime: 125 mins

★★★★★

NOT BAD: Veerappan is much more watchable than any of RamGopal Varma’s recent outings.

N AMRATA JOSHI

Before seeing, The Angry Birds Movie, I read up asmuch as much as possible onthe game.

I learnt that there are abunch of flightless birds,starting with a basic red one,who have to attack the thiev-ing pigs’ fortresses. The filmis based on the hugely suc-cessful game that waslaunched in 2009.

The next question, afterthe great debate of booksversus movies, should be: dogames make good movies?

Don’t bother about themepark rides. The Angry Birds

Movie definitely indicatesthey don’t.

Depressing

The film is depressing forits laziness and cynicism. Thecolours are bright, the birdsare twee and toy ready, thejokes are not particularlyclever and when nothingworks, a pop number swellsup in the background obliter-ating all thought. Red is a birdwith beetling black brows. Helives with other flightlessbirds on Bird Island. He has

anger issues and heads off toanger management classwhere he meets Bomb andChuck, also misfits. When thepigs come a calling, Red issuspicious while the otherbirds welcome them. Red’ssuspicions are confirmed asthe dastardly pigs steal thebirds’ eggs and it is left to themisfits and Mighty Eagle tosave the day.

Jason Sudeikis as Red, JoshGad as Chuck, Peter Dinklageas the Mighty Eagle and SeanPenn as Terence do what theycan with the wafer-thin mate-rial. Two jokes: a poster ad-vertising Kevin Bacon asHamlet and the Jon Hammone got a smile.

Apart from that the movieseemed interminable. Pleaselet there not be a sequel.

All fluff, no flightThe Angry Birds Movie based on agame launched seven years ago is richin imagery but lacks crisp writing

The Angry Birds Movie

Voice cast: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Sean Penn, PeterDinklageDirector: Clay Kaytis andFergal ReillyRuntime: 97 mins

★★★★★

TIRING RIDE: The movie seemsinterminable.

MINI A NTHIKADCHHIBBER

ENGLISH:

THE ANGRY BIRDS: PVR (Plaza,Rivoli, Sangam, Naraina, Vikaspuri,City Walk), Movie Time (RajaGarden), Big (Odeon, Vaishali,

Kaushambi, Noida), M Cinemas.

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKINGGLASS:PVR (Plaza, Rivoli, Saket,Sangam, Prashant Vihar, Naraina,Opulent, EDM, City Walk), M2K(Rohini, Pitampura), Wave (Noida),Satyam (Patel Nagar), SRS Cinemas,Spice (Noida).

HINDI:

VEERAPPAN: (New Release:Sandeep Bharadwaj, Usha Jadhav,Sachiin J Joshi, Lisa Ray): Shiela,Amba, Golcha, Regal, Gagan, Delite,Aakash, Abhishek Cineplex, Vishal,Cinemax, Eros One, M Cinemas, G3S(Rohini), Batra Reel, PVR (Plaza,Rivoli, Saket, Priya, Citywalk,Naraina, Vikaspuri, Prashant Vihar,EDM, Mahagun, Opulent), M2K(Rohini, Pitampura), FUN (MotiNagar, Pitampura, Laxmi Nagar,Karkardooma), Movie Time (Raja

Garden, Pitampura), DT (Saket,Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj), Satyam(Patel Nagar, Janakpuri, NehruPlace), BIG (Odeon, Vaishali,Kaushambi, Noida), SRS Cinemas,Spice (Noida), JAM Shipra, Star X(Vaishali), Galaxie, Movie Palace,Movie Magic, Chaudhary(Ghaziabad), Movie World andSilvercity (Ghaziabad), Inox and QCinemas (Faridabad).

THE ANGRY BIRDS: (New Release)(Hindi – 3D): Delite Diamond, BatraReels, PVR (3C’s, Saket, Sangam,Prashant Vihar, Citywalk, Naraina,Opulent), DT (Saket, Shlimar Bagh,Vasant Kunj, Noida), Movie Time(Raja Garden, Pitampura), BIG(Odeon, Noida, Vaishali, Kaushambi),Wave (Raja Garden, Kaushambi,Noida), Satyam (Patel Nagar), Spice(Noida).

PHOBIA: (New Release: RadhikaApte, Satyadeep Mishra, AnkurVikal): Amba, Delite, Batra Reels,PVR (Plaza, Rivoli, Saket, Citywalk,Sangam, Naraina, Vikaspuri,Prashant Vihar, EDM), DT (Saket,Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj), MovieTime (Raja Garden, Pitampura),Satyam (Nehru Place), Spice (Noida).

WAITING: (New Release: KalkiKoechlin, Naseeruddin Shah): PVR

(Saket, Citywalk, Naraina, Vikaspuri,Prashant Vihar, EDM), DT (Saket,Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj), MovieTime (Raja Garden, Pitampura).

SARBJIT: (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadda):Delite Diamond, M Cinemas, G3S(Rohini), PVR (Plaza, Rivoli, Saket,Citywalk, Naraina, Vikaspuri,Prashant Vihar, EDM), M2K (Rohini,Pitampura), Movie Time (RajaGarden, Pitampura), DT (Saket,Shalimar Bagh, Vasant Kunj), Satyam(Patel Nagar, Janakpuri, NehruPlace), FUN (Moti Nagar, Pitampura,Laxmi Nagar, Karkardooma), BIG(Odeon, Vaishali, Kaushambi, Noida),JAM Shipra, Star X (Vaishali),Galaxie, Spice (Noida), Movie Palace,Movie Magic, Chaudhary(Ghaziabad), Movie World andSilvercity (Ghaziabad), Inox and QCinemas (Faridabad).

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR:(Hindi): Movie Time (Raja Garden)

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE: (Hindi):Shiela, PVR (Vikaspuri, PrashantVihar), Movie Time (Pitampura, RajaGarden), Satyam (Patel Nagar)

BOOKING ENQUIRIES: PVR51513391; Spice Gold012043890000; SatyamCinemas 25797385; Delite

23272903; Wave 51832222

CINEMA



CMYK

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CITY | 3THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

Book Launch and Seminar: “Con-temporary Malaysian Indians” edit-ed by Datuk Dr. Deniosn Jayasooriaand K.S.Nathan from the Institute ofEthnic studies (KITA), National Uni-versity of Malaysia (UKM); Chair: Dr.G. Srinivas, Associate Professor,Centre for the Study of Social Sys-tems, JNU, at Seminar Room III, Ka-maladevi Complex, Main Building,India International Centre (IIC), 2p.m.

Talk: “Trialogue 2047 on urban af-fordable housing: Decoupling mate-rial resources” at Development

Alternatives, World Head Quarters,B-32 Qutub Institutional Area, 6 p.m.

Music: Hindustani Vocal recital byArshad Ali followed by Sitar recitalby Purbayan Chatterjee at C.D.Deshmukh Auditorium, Main Build-ing, India International Centre (IIC),6 p.m.

Exhibition: “Design Premiere2016”, an exhibition of multimedia,visuals and models by the Depart-ment of Industrial Design, School ofPlanning & Architecture, at VisualArts Gallery, Habitat World, IndiaHabitat Centre (IHC), 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Exhibition: “Hope and Despair”, asolo painting exhibition by NarendraKumar at Open Palm Court Gallery atHabitat World, India Habitat Centre(IHC), 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.Exhibition: “Forest of the living di-vine”, a solo exhibition of works byN.N.Rimzon at Talwar Gallery, C-84,Neeti Bagh, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.Screening: “Swimming Up-stream”— Japanese film screeningwith English subtitles at The JapanFoundation, 5A Ring Road, LajpatNagar IV, 2 p.m.

Screening:“A Season Outside” and“One Day With Rinpoche”— Englishdocumentary film screenings atHabitat World, India Habitat Centre(IHC), 7 p.m.(Mail your listings for this columnat [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

NEW DELHI: Stigmatised and ina state of shock, the victim inthe Inderpuri brutality caseconcealed the incident fromeveryone for a day and would

have kept it a secret if not foran unexpected occurrence,said his family members.

Although his mother hadseen him returning homenaked on the day of the inci-dent, he explained his pre-dicament to her as a scufflehe had had with boys in theneighbourhood and had notbrought up the fact that thefive accused had made ef-forts to insert a beer bottleinto his private parts.

“On Tuesday, one of hisfriends received a video onWhatsApp and came rushingto our house to show it to ev-eryone. When my son sawthat the video they had madeafter stripping him had gonepublic, he broke down andnarrated the whole incidentto us and explained how Sun-ny Rana (the absconding ac-cused) and others had

tortured him,” said the boy’smother. When she learnt thedetails, she discussed thematter with members in theblock where they live. Joined

by some of them, her nextdestination was Sachin’s

house to confront him.Accused unapologetic

To their surprise, added aneighbour and a community

head of the area, Sachin andothers were completely “de-

fiant and unapologetic”about the whole episode.Co-accused Shankar, Su-

mit, Aman and Raju were al-so there, they added.

“‘Why have you comehere?’ was Sunny’s first reac-tion. When we showed himthe video and asked why theyhad tortured my son, he turn-ed aggressive and said ‘Tunesher ke moo mein haath daa-la hai (You’ve entered thejaws of a tiger)’, ” said themother. The presence of community elders alsowasn’t a deterrent for the ac-cused. Instead they keptclaiming that the policecould not do anything tothem.

Cop remains mute

The boy’s family allegedthat the area constable wasalso present there but re-mained a mute spectator. Itwas only when the argumentheated up that more police-men arrived and took Sumit,

Aman and Raju to the policestation where the familyclaims to have showed vid-eos of the assault to thepolice.

INDERPURI ASSAULT

Victim chose to keep mumHe opened up when a video of the incident reached his friend on WhatsApp

SHUBHOMOY SIKDAR He had explained hispredicament to hismother as a scufflehe had had with boysin the neighbourhood

NEW DELHI: In many ways itwas almost a repeat of theDecember 16 incident inNorth Delhi on Friday eve-ning but this time therewere two alert policemenwho foiled the plan.

A young boy and girl takea lift in a vehicle as they hadno transport back home.

Some distance later, the boyis thrown out of the car andthe three men in the car pro-ceed with the girl leavingthe hapless boy behind.

Only this time there was apolice vehicle just at theright spot.

An assistant sub-inspec-tor and a head constable,both in their fifties, not onlychased down the car but al-so overpowered the threeyoung men ensuring thatthey were arrested and thegirl rescued. It was foundthat all three had previous

criminal records againstthem.

The incident happenedaround 7 p.m. The couplewas returning from Burariand headed towards theirrespective homes in North-East Delhi when they real-ised that there was no bus orautorickshaw in sight, theywere contemplating how toreach home when a Santro

Car with three men insidestopped and offered to dropthem home.

“They boarded the carand soon realised that thethree men, later identifiedas Shiv Kumar, Saurabh Ku-mar Goswami and SachinKumar, had ulterior mo-tives. First they snatchedthe mobile phones of theduo and then asked the boyto get out of the car upon re-aching Wazirabad,” said Ad-ditional Deputy Commis-sioner of Police (North)Aslam Khan.

Duo asks for lift,lands in troubleSHUBHOMOY SIKDAR

NEW DELHI: A television

journalist and fellowcrew members onFriday were allegedlychased and attackedwith bricks by a group of men when they went toreport the allegedassault of a 17-year-oldboy in South-WestDelhi’s Inderpuri.

The attack allegedlyhappened outside thehouse of Sunny Rana,one of the accused.Although the bricks,hurled twice at RashmiMann from NDTV 24*7,did not hit her, she wasforced to seek refuge infirst a garden and then ahouse to save herself,said the police.

Eyewitnesses said thatwhen she was setting up

the feed to be sent to thenewsroom and had justparked her OutsideBroadcast van next tothe residence of Rana, agroup of men startedthrowing bricks andstones at her. She,cameraman Kamalkantand another employee of the channel rushed indifferent directions tosave themselves but thecrowd went after Ms.Mann.

During the melee, amike was also stolen.Based on the journalist’scomplaint, a case underrelevant Sections of theIPC was registered, saidthe police.

TV journalist attackedS TAFFR EPORTER

Sleep beckons

IN OBLIVION: A man takes a nap at the New Delhirailway station on Friday. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

NEW DELHI: A young womanand her brother were killedwhen a cooking gas cylinderexploded at their residence inNorth-East Delhi’s Jafrabadon Friday.

The siblings— Geeta (23)and Kamal (19) — were theonly members present at thehouse at the time of the acci-dent. Their mother had gone

to a neighbour’s house, thepolice said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East) A.K. Sin-gla said prima facie it ap-peared that the accident hap-pened when the duo wastrying to transfer LPG from abigger cylinder to a smallerone. It is suspected that therewas a leakage in either of thecylinders or the pipe used forthe transfer.

The compressor in the re-frigerator also blasted due tothe fire, added the police.Two fire tenders werepressed into service, but thesiblings had been completelyburnt by then. While Kamaldied on the spot, Geeta suc-cumbed to her injuries dur-ing treatment. “A case of neg-ligence causing death andother charges has been regis-tered,” Dr. Singla added

Siblings die in cylinder blastS TAFFR EPORTER

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Policeon Friday said that two per-sons had been arrested inconnection with the mur-der of a 60-year-old eateryowner in Lajpat Nagar earli-er this week.

The prime accused in thecase, Manish (32), son of aCBI official, was arrested on

Thursday, while the arrestof co-accused Robin (26)who was picked up forquestioning a day after theincident was announced onFriday.

Two other accused, how-ever, are absconding.

The car in which the ac-cused had arrived at the res-taurant and had used todrive away has been seized.

Two held for murderS TAFFR EPORTER

NEW DELHI: An elaborate plotthat involved a fake love af-fair, an extortion bid and amurder was cracked by theDelhi Police on Friday withthe arrest of the accused, whohad been on the run aftercommitting the crime earlierthis week.

As per a statement fromthe North-West district po-lice, a body bearing a griev-ous injury on the left side of the neck and a cut on theright wrist was found near adrain in the Bhalswa Dairyarea on Wednesday morning.A mobile phone and a pocketdiary were found in the pock-et of the deceased, who waslater identified as Sonu, a res-ident of Shraddhanand Colo-ny. Sonu, a married father-of-two, used to work as a labour-er in a local glass-cuttingshop.

Deputy Commissioner of

Police (North-West) VijaySingh said that the policefound that a neighbour andco-worker of the deceasedhad been absconding sinceTuesday night. The accused,Dhirender, was arrested froman abandoned plot of land inSwaroop Nagar Extension of Bhalswa Dairy, after the po-lice mounted an unsuccess-ful raid at his parents’ homein Uttar Pradesh’s Buland-shahr. “On sustained interro-gation he accepted his invol-vement in the crime,” saidMr. Singh.

Elaborate murder plot cracked

S TAFF R EPORTER

NEW DELHI: A day after ManishGupta, a property dealer, was

killed in a road accident atKeshavpuram, a video foot-age purportedly showing po-

licemen at the spot thrashingan advocate who was tryingto help the victim hasemerged.

The clip, which was re-corded by an unidentifiedperson from the third floor of

a building adjacent to the ac-cident site and runs for a min-ute, shows two policemen es-corting the lawyer to their

police Gypsy. A few metresfrom the Gypsy, the officersstart slapping the lawyer.

Road accident: video footage emergesS TAFFR EPORTER

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI) on Fridayarrested an Under Secretarywith the National Council of Educational Research andTraining (NCERT) on briberyallegations.

The accused has been

identified as Hari Ram. Heallegedly demanded Rs.50,000from a person to dispose of acomplaint in his favour. TheCBI laid a trap, and arrestedRam when he was allegedlyreceiving Rs.15,000 from thevictim. The accused has beenbooked under the Preventionof Corruption Act.

NCERT official arrested

SPECIALCORRESPONDENT



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CITY 4 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

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NEW DELHI: The much-toutedand much-delayed Delhi-Meerut expressway seems tohave finally shifted to the fasttrack. The 96-km-long ex-pressway promises to pro-

vide a safe and smooth jour-ney for commuters betweenDelhi and Meerut.

Chairman of NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) Mr. Raghav Chandravisited the site on Friday totake stock of the work of theexpressway being carriedout at a cost of Rs. 7,620crore.

Alternate route

Mr. Chandra also visitedthe construction site of East-ern Peripheral Expresswayat Dasna on Friday.

“At present, there is onlyone route between Delhi andMeerut i.e. NH-58 on whichthe traffic remains jammed atseveral places, thus, causinga lot of inconvenience to thetraffic plying between Delhiand Meerut,” said a NHAIspokesperson.

“The NH-24 remains

jammed almost throughoutthe day causing lot of incon-venience to long distanceand local traffic. Therefore,to augment the capacity of highway and ensure unhin-dered fast and safe travelfrom Delhi to Meerut, Hapur

and vice versa, Delhi-MeerutExpressway project has beenconceptualised and PrimeMinister laid the foundationstone on December 31, 2015,”he said.

Split into four parts

The alignment of Delhi-Meerut expressway beginsfrom Sarai kale khan nearouter ring road in Delhi andwill continue on existing NH– 24 up to Dasna (28 kms).

From Dasna, there will bea new greenfield alignmentup to Meerut.

For early implementationof the project, it has been di-vided into four separatepackages.

The first part is betweenSarai Kale Khan in Delhi toGhazipur at Delhi-UP bor-der with a total length 8.7 kmand costing Rs. 9.37 crore.

The second part is be-

tween Ghazipur and Dasna,Ghaziabad with total length19.2 kms and costing Rs. 1,998crore.

The third part is from Das-na to Hapur with total lengthof 22.2 km and costing Rs.1,098 crore. The last part,which would be a greenfieldproject, is a six-lane express-way from Dasna to Meerutwith total length of 46 kmsand costing Rs. 3,588 crore.

“There are bottlenecks in

the smooth implementation

of the project such as en-croachments in Pandav Na-gar and Vinod Nagar and un-authorised colonies in about0.5 km stretch and slum areacluster, Nehru Camp Patpar-ganj in about 0.5 km onNH-24 land,” the spokesper-son said.

“However, the matter hasbeen taken up with the Delhigovernment for rehabilita-tion and resettlement of af-fected families,” he said.

The project also involves

the shifting of many utilities,including high tension elec-tric wires, apart from tele-phone lines, water pipes, gaspipes etc.

Shifting work

A dedicated utility corri-dor would be started by theconcessionaire shortly andsimultaneously the shiftingwork would start, the spo-kesperson said.

“The Delhi DevelopmentAuthority has now officiallyconfirmed that 90 metresright-of-way is available forthis section,” he said.

Mr. Chandra assured thatNHAI is fully geared up forresolving the site specific is-sues and all necessary facili-tation is being given to con-cessionaires for expeditingthe early execution of thisproject, which aims to pro-

vide relief to road users.

Work begins in earnest on 96-km-long route; expressway will cost Rs. 7,620 crore

Delhi-Meerut road work enters fast lane

S TAFFR EPORTER

TAKING STOCK: Chairman of NHAI Raghav Chandra visits theproject site on Friday. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

At present, the twocities are connectedby NH-58, whichwitnesses frequentand long traffic jams

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Ar-vind Kejriwal continued histirade against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Friday,saying that he had becomelike former PM ManmohanSingh — by remaining silenton Vyapam and Lalitgate.

“It was under the regime of Mr. Singh that 2G scam, Coalscam and other massive cor-ruption took place, but henever took any action and henever uttered a word. In thesame way, scams like Vya-pam, Modigate took place infront of PM Modi, even theKhadse episode took place.But he didn’t take any action,he is just like Mr. Singh,” Mr.Kejriwal told the media.

‘No concrete action’

“PM Modi says he hasn’tdone corruption and thesame thing was said by Man-mohan Singh also. The latterwas an honest person but washe transacting money? No,”he said.

The Delhi CM further saidthat just like Mr. Singh, thePM was not taking any con-crete action over any scams.“The same system is prevail-ing, earlier it was 2G scam,now it is Vyapam, earlier itwas Coal scam now it isAgustaWestland, only thenames of the scams have

been changed,” he said.Mr. Kejriwal, who has con-

fronted the Centre over sev-eral issues, said that in thepast two years, PM Modi hasmade enemies in almost allsections of the society. “Thestudents across the countryare angry with him, the mi-norities are not happy withhis approach, the farmers, theDalits, traders, businessmanand jewellers everyone is un-happy with him,” he added.

The CM said he is sur-prised that Mr. Modi is nottaking any action againsteven the Congress Party.

“There has been no actionon Vadra and on the issue of AgustaWestland,” he said.

Maintaining that hooligan-ism has spread in the countryunder the NDA, Mr. Kejriwalsaid that even senior journal-ists are getting trolled andabused online by the army of Modi. “And these people are

even followed by the PMhimself,” he added.

Silent on scams like former PM, says CM

Kejriwal says PM Modiacting like Manmohan

S TAFFR EPORTER

Kejriwal said Modi had madeenemies in all sections ofsociety.FILE PHOTO

NEW DELHI: Days after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalwarned of cancelling licenc-es of the private power distri-bution companies, BSES hasnow submitted a report tothe government on the stepstaken by them.

The two BSES discomshave informed the govern-ment that it spent about Rs.550 crore for augmenting in-frastructure, besides increas-ing its call centre head byabout 50 per cent.

Better equipped

“Three, 50 MVA EHVGrids were commissioned inCentral Delhi, Najafgarh andMundka to take care of thegrowing power demand.These new grids have helpedmeet the additional powerdemand. In the past one year,BSES Rajdhani (BRPL) in-vested a capex of Rs. 355crore, while BSES Yamuna(BYPL) spent Rs. 200 croreto strengthen the infrastruc-ture. Transformation capaci-ty of over 450 MVA was alsoinstalled,” a BSES spokesper-son said.

The two discoms have alsolaunched additional num-bers (BRPL: 33517100, BYPL:30079300) for registering ‘nosupply’ complaints, apartfrom undertaking several ad-ditional measures to help

consumers. “We have aug-mented call centre head up

by around 50 per cent, havemade operational additionalnumber (with additionallines) for registering ‘no sup-ply’ complaints. Additional200 people have been de-ployed to monitor faults andrestore power supply,” headded.

The discoms have also de-

ployed QRTs (quick re-sponse teams) for faster res-

olution of complaints and areusing hot spot scanning todetect faults in the equip-ment at the grid level.

Expect power outagesin North Delhi

Residents of North Delhiare likely to face power cutsover the weekend, as the Del-hi Transco Limited (DTL)will shift its Bawana-Shali-mar Bagh 220 KV line fromits existing bays to new baysfrom May 28 to 31.

“Alternative arrangementshave been made to back feedthe areas. However, in case of

any exigency power supplymay be affected rotationally

for short duration in Shali-mar Bagh, Rani Bagh, Part of Wazirpur and Sanjay GandhiTransport Nagar,” a DTL offi-cial said.

Even though the overallpower situation was good onFriday with the demandtouching 5,500 MW, outageswere reported from some ar-eas. In East Delhi, power cutswere reported from YamunaVihar Extension and GandhiNagar while in South Delhi,residents in Govindpuri, Kal-kaji and Lajpat Nagar facedoutages. Last Friday, the Cap-ital clocked peak power de-

mand, clocked 6,188 MW,highest ever record in Delhi.

BSES discoms, BRPL and BYPL, said that they have spent about Rs. 550 crore to augment infrastructure

BSES sends report to AAP govt. on steps taken

S TAFFR EPORTER

NEW DELHI: With Delhi having asurplus of power, the govern-ment has now decided to sellelectricity generated by gas-based Bawana power stationto other States.

The plan, once in place,will help reduce power tariffsin the Capital as distributioncompanies could save up toRs 300 crore.

After repeated pleas by thediscoms that they have to pay100 per cent fixed costs forthe under-performing Bawa-na plant, the Delhi govern-ment had convened a meet-ing on May 13 to resolve thematter.

Bihar interested

According to power de-partment officials, Bihar hasalready expressed interest inprocuring all of the 250 MWof electricity generated bythe 1,500 MW Bawana plant.

“Since Pragati Power Cor-poration Limited (PPCL) hasthe option of sourcing gasand generating power at ap-proximate Rs. 3 per unit,PPCL can explore realloca-tion of at least one block(comprising of 2 GTS and

one STG) to the other Statesthrough GNCTD and MoP.

On their part, they contactedBihar discoms for the sameand they have shown willing-ness to procuring some quan-tum of power for next oneyear,” read the minutes of themeeting, a copy of which iswith The Hindu.

Explaining the need for re-allocation of power from theunderutilised plant, a TataPower Delhi Distribution(TPDDL) official said,

Surplus power

“There is not enough gasbecause of which the plant isgenerating only 20-25 percent of its capacity. Despitethat, discoms have to pay 100per cent of the fixed costs of the plant, which amounts toabout Rs. 1,000 crore. Fur-ther, the discoms are powersurplus, so any further gener-ation from Bawana would al-so not be required for Delhi.”

In the meeting, PrincipalSecretary (power) Sukesh Jain mentioned that insteadof relying on Power PurchaseAgreements (PPAs) withDelhi discoms alone, PPCLshould at the earliest explorethe possibility of selling theirpower to other States so thatthe burden of fixed costs

does not pass on to the Delhiconsumers.

Power from Bawana to be sold to other StatesS WETA GOSWAMI

NEW DELHI: The Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA), the large-st NGO of doctors in India,has welcomed Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi’s state-ment, while addressing a rallyat Saharanpur, that “retire-ment age of doctors will beincreased to 65”.

Speaking about whetherthis would be applicable tostate government employeestoo, IMA president Dr. S.S.Aggarwal said: “We certainly

hope so. State is a health sub-ject. However, we are veryhopeful that there will be nodiscrimination and that alldoctors will benefit by themove.”

Shortage of doctors

A senior official in the Del-hi Health department addedthat the cabinet note for themove hasn’t been presented.“Let’s see what the Centrebrings to the table,” he said.

Delhi, like the rest of theStates, has been facing a se-vere shortage of doctors withthe State Health Minister Sa-tyendar Jain recently statingthat he has initiated the proc-ess of recruitment fordoctors.

They added that the Centrehas now finally made a movetowards meeting the longterm demand of the medical

profession.Currently there are gross

discrepancies between the

retirement age of doctorsacross different cadres withinthe government, said doctors.

“While the retirement formedical teachers workingwith the Centre has been 65years for a long time, thesame for specialists has been62 years. The retirement agestill falls for Central govern-ment medical officers, whoretire at 60 years. Moreover,the number differs from Stateto State, as well as organisa-tion to organisation.

Docs happy with PM’scomment on retirementBINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN

NEW DELHI: The National Com-mission for Women (NCW)has taken suo-motu cogni-sance of a report in The Hin-du on May 27, where a 70-year-old woman died out-side Lok Nayak Hospitalemergency room on Thurs-day allegedly because resi-dent doctors did not attendto her.

The Commission statedthat it is seriously concernedabout such incidents.

“Considering the gravityof the offence it is requestedthat the Commission be ap-prised about the nature of event and action taken withrespect to the incident with-in two days,” said a letter is-

sued by the Commission tothe Lok Nayak Hospital med-ical superintendent.

NCW takes noticeS TAFFR EPORTER

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Tou-rism and TransportationDevelopment Corporation(DTTDC) launched a re-vamped version of its offi-cial websitewww.delhitourism.gov.in

on Thursday, but some of the information on it isoutdated.

The website was given a“new look” with new pho-tographs and better naviga-tion to attract more visitorsto its website and encour-age them to visit the city.

Places long gone

However, the section onEating Out, and Entertain-ment, that includes infor-mation about “movie theat-res” and “pubs anddiscotheques” will havetourists running around incircles as some of the plac-es mentioned no longerexist.

Some of the places listedsuch as Dv8, at 13 RegalBuilding in ConnaughtPlace; Delhi's Devils atSouth Extension; and Fah-

renheit at S6 Green ParkExtension, shut down acouple of years back.

When The Hindu con-tacted Padmini Singla, MDand CEO of DTTDC, topoint out that some of theinformation was not up-to-date on the new website,

she said: “If that is the case Iwill have to check with mypeople and get back to youfor a comment.”

Ms. Singla had, at thelaunch, said, “Dotted withhistorical monuments andruins, there is a lot that Del-hi can boast about. Thenew look of the websitewill not only provide easeof access, but will encour-age tourists to plan theirtrip.”

The website is primarilya listing site offering a di-rectory of museums, parks,things to do and containsinformation about the his-tory of the city. Users canaccess the e-commercebased booking services forthe national and interna-tional packages offered byDTTDC and its travelpartner.

Old information on Delhitourism’s ‘new’ website J AIDEEPDEO BHANJ NEW DELHI: The Central Board

of Secondary Education(CBSE) will announce theClass X results on Saturday.

According to officials atCBSE, the result will be de-clared by 2 p.m.

Students can get their re-sults from the board’s web-

site: www.cbse.nic.in orwww.results.nic.in orwww.cbseresults.nic.in .

The schools will automati-cally get their entire resultson email IDs already regis-tered with the board, an offi-cial statement said.

Officials at CBSE said thatas per previous years, boardwould be disseminating itsresults through IVRS also.The telephone numbers of NIC and MTNL throughwhich results can be ac-cessed through IVRS are24300699 or 28127030 - forlocal subscribers in Delhi,and 011 – 24300699 or 011-28127030 – for subscribers inother parts of the country.

The result will not beavailable in the board prem-ises and people are advisednot to visit its office for col-lection of results, the state-

ment added.

Class X CBSEresults today S TAFFR EPORTER

NEW DELHI: Over the decades,the Delhi Development Au-thority (DDA) has receivedthe image of an organisationwhere files drag from one ta-ble to another and gettingyour work done can takemonths or even years.

The much maligned files of the DDA, however, are goingto turn 'smart' very soon.

A common refrain amongthose who have to run frompillar to post to get any work

done at the offices of theDDA, such as conversion ormutation of title deeds etc., isthat some times they are noteven where exactly their filesof their case is stuck.

Files to be a click away

To tackle the sluggish paceof tracking down files, theDDA is going to tag them allwith bar codes and through asoftware, finding a file wouldbe just a click away.

“All files of the DDA wouldget barcoded for the FileTracking System and the fileswould also get unique num-bers for easy identification.The software of the trackingsystem would be able to showat one place how many timesa file has gone from one de-partment to another, to whichofficial and for how muchtime it remained there,” said a

senior DDA official, whodidn't wish to be named.

According to sources in the

DDA, the total number of files in DDA reach a figure of more than five lakh and justthe process of barcoding eachone of them is a Herculeanone.

The DDA has floated a ten-der for the work of barcodingits file and a work is expectedto be awarded soon.

“The tracking systemwould make the life of appli-cants and others who have toget land or housing recordsfrom the DDA much easier.

At present, the files have to

be physically traced with thehelp of registers that are notalways up to date,” the officialsaid.

“Once the File TrackingSystem comes into place, ourpublic dealing officials will beable to track the file and an-swer queries of the public in amatter of a few seconds and afew clicks on their keyboard,”he said.

Digitising effort

Barcoding would be part of the process that the DDA hasinitiated of digitising all itsland, revenue and housing re-cords.

The DDA is also coming upwith a seven-storey recordroom at Ghazipur in east Del-hi where all its files and re-cords that are spread acrossits different offices will beplaced.

There are also plans tohave backup of these files andrecords on microfilms.

DDA’s five lakh filesto be barcodedSIDHARTHA R OY NEW DELHI: Students under the

OBC category seeking admis-sion to Masters courses in

JNU will continue to get re-laxation during admission,both at the level of entranceexamination and viva-voce(oral exam).

This was decided in themeeting of Academic Coun-cil (AC) on Friday.

The council rejected theproposal by a standing com-mittee to do away with relax-ation to OBC candidates inentrance examination for

M.Phil and Ph.D coursesfrom the coming academicsession. The panel had sug-gested that the candidatesshould instead be entitled to aconcession of five marks inthe eligibility criteria.

Proposals junked

The committee had alsoproposed reduction in con-cession to female and trans-gender candidates, that pro-posal also has been rejectedand female candidates willnow get 12 deprivation points(grace marks).

“The AC has junked thestanding committee's pro-posal to do away with OBCrelaxations and students willget relaxations at both thelevels. Apart from this, the is-sue of deprivation points tofemale candidates and trans-genders was also raised in the

meeting and the points havebeen raised to 12 now,” amember of the council said.

“All female and transgen-der candidates will get fiveextra points and candidatesin the two categories who be-long to backward areas willget seven points,” the mem-ber added. Five percent relax-ation in entrance exam willalso be given to widows orwards of Armed Forces per-

sonnel killed or disabledwhile on duty.

Meeting videographed

The committee’s suggesti-ons had triggered widespreadprotests from students, whodemanded that the relaxationbe extended to OBC studentsat both the levels and the dep-rivation points for girls andtransgenders remain as perthe policy in place since 1994.

The council met almost afortnight after the previousmeeting on May 10 was ad-journed after V-C JagadeshKumar walked out of themeet due to ruckus betweenstudents, teachers and ad-ministration over the Febru-ary 9 incident.

As per university sources,Friday’s meeting was video-graphed, to avoid a similarsituation. The varsity had al-

so issued an appeal to teach-ers and students to let themeeting proceed peacefully.

JNU retains OBC relaxation; deprivation pointsS TAFFR EPORTER

RELIEF: JNU students Umar Khalid (left) and AnirbanBhattacharya.FILE PHOTO

The council rejected

the proposal by a

standing committee;

students had protested

the suggestions

LOST POTENTIAL: The 1,500 MW plant in Bawana is operating at 25 per cent capacity. FILE PHOTO

The discoms havealso launchedadditional helplines toregister ‘no supply’complaints

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Friday put on holdthe disciplinary action takenby JNU administrationagainst students Umar Kha-lid and Anirban Bhatta-charya, accused of seditionin connection with a Febru-ary 9 event, till their appealsagainst the decision are de-cided by the University’s ap-pellate authority.

Justice Manmohan grant-ed the protection to both thestudents who have soughtthe same relief that was giv-en on May 13 to JawaharlalNehru University Students’

Union (JNUSU) presidentKanhaiya Kumar and others,against whom disciplinary

action was taken by the var-sity after the row over theFebruary 9 event.

“This Court is of the opin-ion that the petitioners [Mr.Khalid and Mr. Bhatta-charya] are entitled to thesame order as passed by thiscourt on May 13, 2016...,” theCourt said.

While Mr. Khalid was rus-ticated for one semester andslapped with a fine of Rs.20,000, Mr. Bhattacharyawas rusticated till July 15 andbarred from campus for fiveyears after July 23. Mr. Bhat-tacharya was also given only

a week between July 16-22 tocomplete his thesis.

—PTI

HC stays JNU actionagainst Umar, Anirban



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CITY/STATE | 5THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

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NEW DELHI: Reports of mass mi-gration from a village in Out-er Delhi due to water short-age is a conspiracy by local

Bharatiya Janata Party work-ers, Delhi Jal Board chairmanKapil Mishra said on Friday.

Earlier this week, therewere media reports statingthat several families had fledfrom Ghuman Hera village inMatiala Assembly constitu-ency due to water crisis. Ateam of Jal Board officials ac-companied Mr. Mishra andMatiala MLA Gulab Singhduring their visit the villageon Friday.

“We found that reports of migration due to water crisiswere fake. Residents told us

that the BJP mandal in-charge of the area had beeninvolved in the conspiracyand that not even one personhad migrated,” said Mr. Mis-hra.

Photos of locked housescirculated last week were ac-tually old houses that resi-dents had moved out of 15years ago, after constructingnew buildings in the area, headded.

While at the village, Mr.Mishra asked the Jal Boardofficials to complete anypending projects in Matiala.

“It is unfortunate that theBJP is indulging in acts of misinformation and negativepolitics. The Jal Board hasdone stellar work in the fieldof water production, man-

agement and distributionacross the city, covering 217unauthorised colonies in thelast financial year,” said Mr.Mishra.

The BJP, however, denied

the allegations. Delhi BJPpresident Satish Upadhyaysaid Mr. Mishra had “BJPphobia” and was trying topass the buck for the failureof the AAP government.

“Delhiites, especially inrural parts, unauthorisedcolonies and urban villages,are facing an acute water cri-sis. No one needs to cajolepeople. They will shift to analternate accommodationwhen there is no water for aweek, like in Ghuman Heravillage,” said Mr. Upadhyay.

Reports of families fleeing Ghuman Hera village due to water crisis

BJP spreading rumours about water shortage: DJB chief S TAFF R EPORTER

NEW DELHI: Several coloniesacross the city will be addedto the piped water networksoon and the Delhi JalBoard’s target of extendingsupply to 300 colonies this fi-nancial year was on track,DJB chairman Kapil Mishrasaid on Friday.

23 colonies

Piped water supply to 23colonies will be launchedwithin the next 15 days, saidMr. Mishra.

He added that work on lay-ing pipelines in 18 other colo-

nies will be initiated within10 to 15 days. Six such pro-jects in Mundka were inau-gurated on Friday.

“The DJB broke its recordsby adding 217 colonies to thepiped network in 2015-2016.This financial year, we are ontrack to cover the targeted300 colonies,” he said.

Forty-one colonies wherewater supply or work on lay-ing pipelines will be started

are spread over 10 Assemblyconstituencies — Kirari, Ba-wana, Mundka, Okhla, Ba-darpur, Narela, Deoli, Chhat-tarpur, Najafgarh andMatiala.

Piped water network extended

S TAFF R EPORTER

NEW DELHI: The seven-day Jharkhand Expo 2016 con-cluded at the Janakpuri DilliHaat on Friday.

The exhibition area wasdecorated as per the themeof Jharkhand Expo-tourism,tradition, art and culture

and ambience of the State, astatement said.

Entrance gate

Besides these, an en-trance gate boasted creativeart work and 3D-effectbased on replica of histori-cal monuments, traditional

art and culture.Forty stalls at the expo,

including those selling lacbangle, bamboo arts, wood-en crafts, paintings and dif-ferent products from Jhar-craft, were a big hit with thevisitors, besides the fromthe State.

Seven-day Jharkhand Expo concludesS TAFFR EPORTER



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6 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

PUBLIC NOTICES SITUATIONS

VACANT

GENERAL

EDUCATIONAL

SITUATIONS

VACANT

GENERAL

GENERAL

EDUCATIONAL

EDUCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL

SITUATIONS

VACANT



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STATE | 7THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

DEATH

ANNIVERSARIES

DEATH

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NEW DELHI: Success of initia-tives being taken now willhinge on implementation andaccountability mechanisms,Nobel Peace laureate KailashSatyarthi said at the NationalConsultation on Eradicationof Bonded Labour and Traf-ficking on Friday.

The event was organisedby Bachpan Bachao Andolan,where sessions were held onissues including trafficking of bonded and child labourers,trafficking for sexual exploi-tation, rehabilitation of vic-tims of trafficking and effec-tive coordination amongagencies.

Addressing the consulta-tion, Ministry of Labour andEmployment SecretaryShankar Aggarwal said:“Growth will remain mea-ningless unless it is inclusiveand promotes developmentof disadvantageous sectionsof society. We are committedto eradicating all forms of ex-ploitation through strong de-terrents and rehabilitationmechanisms for victims.”

Mr. Satyarthi said the gov-ernment has taken hugestrides in building a policyframework against traffick-ing, but gaps still exist withrespect to prevention andprotection against traffick-ing, effective rehabilitation of victims and conviction of of-fenders.

Forms of slavery

“The key lies in recognis-ing that these crimes are notdisparate offences, but aredifferent forms of slavery.Convergence of efforts at theCentral, State and districtlevels among various agen-cies for rehabilitation is es-sential for complete elimina-

tion of child trafficking,” hesaid. Mr. Satyarthi demandedthat States adopt the bondedlabourers scheme and the ju-venile justice rules as soon asthe central model rules arenotified.

“The benefits of new legis-lations will only reach themost neglected child whenprocesses and procedures of implementation are streng-thened and accountability isensured. Tough initiatives to-wards creating an economicdeterrent, along with stronginstitutional mechanisms,are the need of the hour,” headded.

Ministry of Labour andEmployment Joint SecretaryBipin Mallick said: “Since1976, only 2,82,000 bondedlabourers across the countryhave been identified and re-leased. This is not enough.

All of us have to work togeth-er in coordination on thisissue.”

Success of initiatives

depends on

implementation,

accountability,

says Satyarthi

BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN

NEW DELHI: Launching a blister-ing attack on the Centre overnon-disbursement of the Nirb-haya Fund, the Aam AadmiParty accused the NarendraModi government of reducing

the serious issue of women’ssecurity to a “joke”.

At a press conference on Fri-day, AAP leader Dilip Pandey,along with women legislatorsAlka Lamba, Rakhi Birla andSarita Singh, said the Centre isyet to come up with a policy onwomen’s security or a nationallaw for compensation in caseof crimes against women. TheCentre had created the Nirb-haya Fund, to be used for secu-rity of women, after the grue-

some rape of a 23-year-old onDecember 16, 2012.

Referring to BJP presidentAmit Shah’s press conference,where he presented a reportcard of the Modi government’stwo years in office, Mr. Pandeysaid there was no mention of

women’s security.“The Modi government has

reduced the crucial issue of women’s security into a joke,”the AAP leader alleged. Headded that the BJP leaders werein an “ostrich mode” as theyhave “failed” to see the “fail-ures” of the Modi government.

Rohtash Nagar MLA SaritaSingh demanded a special ses-sion on women’s security inParliament, similar to the oneorganised by the Delhi govern-

ment.In another development, the

Delhi Commission for Womenhas asked Prime Minister Na-

rendra Modi to immediatelydecentralise the NirbhayaFund so that it can be effective-ly used to curb crimes againstwomen.

CCTV cameras

In her letter, DCW chairper-

son Swati Maliwal said theTransport Department of theDelhi government had sent aproposal for using the Nirb-haya Fund to install CCTVcameras in DTC and clusterbuses 10 months ago. However,the Centre rejected it stating itwas “gender neutral” and not“gender sensitive”.

Ms. Maliwal added that thesame proposal was made dur-ing the meeting of a SpecialTask Force on women’s safety

in the Union Home Ministry.However, the proposal has yetnot been approved due to red-tapism, she alleged.

She had earlier written to thePrime Minister over the sameissue in September, when shehad suggested that Nirbhaya

Fund must be used to installCCTV cameras in police sta-tions across the country, createone-stop centres, provide fi-nancial and livelihood-relatedsupport to rape, acid attack andother victims.

“I am confident that thePrime Minister will hear thevoice of women and girls inDelhi and immediately takenecessary steps to properlyutilise the Nirbhaya Fund,” shesaid in the letter.

Aam Aadmi Party leaders launch a blistering attack on the Centre over non-disbursement of Nirbhaya Fund

“BJP has reduced issue of women’s safety to a joke”

S TAFFR EPORTER

GRAVE ISSUE: AAP leader Dilip Pandey with MLAs (from left)Alka Lamba, Sarita Singh and Rakhi Birla during a pressconference in New Delhi on Friday.— PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

NEW DELHI: Workers of the EastDelhi Municipal Corpora-tion (EDMC) held a protestnear the home of the EDMCMayor on Friday after a fel-low employee allegedly com-mitted suicide because of de-layed salary payments.

Hridesh Sharma workedas an attendant and, like oth-er employees, had not beenpaid salary for the month of April by the cash-strappedcivic body on time. A seniorpolice officer said that hisfamily found his body onTuesday morning. Officials

of the EDMC, however, saidthat the salaries had beendisbursed, albeit about 20days late.

“Delayed salaries havecost the lives of two employ-ees. Why do we have to al-ways come out on the streetsor take extreme steps for thecorporation to disburse our

salaries,” asked Sanjay Geh-lot, the president of the Swa-tantra Majdoor Vikas Sany-ukt Morcha.

As per officials of theEDMC, Hridesh had beenfacing financial troubles andwas finding it difficult tomeet his family's expenses.

Protest after EDMC worker commits suicideS TAFFR EPORTER

NEW DELHI:The National GreenTribunal (NGT) has re-strained the Uttarakhandgovernment from cutting andfelling of trees from forestland for the purpose of layingmetalled road in the State.

This follows a plea by

NGO Friends, which had al-leged that a “nexus of timbermafia, some greedy villagersand officials” was suspectedto be behind the recent fires,which have also caused se-vere degradation of environ-ment in Uttarakhand.

The direction issued byNGT chairperson JusticeSwatanter Kumar came afterthe State government failed

to file its response on a pleaseeking a CBI inquiry to as-certain the reason behind theforest fires across the State.

The Tribunal noted that noreply was filed by the Uttarak-hand government and thatthe administration was un-able to dispute the fact thattrees were being cut and

burnt for melting coal tar forlaying roads. The matter hasnow been listed for hearingon August 3.

The NGT had on May 4sought responses of theUnion Ministry of Environ-ment and Forests, and gov-ernments of Uttarakhand andHimachal Pradesh on a sepa-rate plea on the issue of forestfires raging in both the States.

NGT bans cutting of trees for

making roads in UttarakhandBINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN



CMYK

ND-ND

SOUTH8 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

CHENNAI: In a sign of how im-portant data privacy has be-come, a man in Chennai issuspected of using informa-tion posted on the Facebookpage of a missing childrenhelpline to try and extort

money from a Ranchi-basedparent.The Ranchi police will

send a team to Chennai insearch of the man who calledup the parent to claim thatthe girl was with him, and de-manded an initial ransom of Rs. 5,000. He wanted themoney paid as mobilerecharge.

‘Similar complaints’

A senior police officer saidhe has been trying to trackdown at least one individualwho is a habitual offender.“We have many complaintsabout such calls demandingransom. This could be thesame person, but the callskeep coming from multiplephone numbers,” he said.

The girl, aged 17, went mis-sing from Ranchi’s PiskaMore area on May 13. An FIR

was registered the next dayat the city’s Sukhdeo Nagarpolice station. On Tuesdayevening, her mother ManjuSingh received a call. Theman claimed to be callingfrom Chennai. “He identi-fied himself as Vijay and said

he has my daughter. He

wanted his mobile numberrecharged by Rs. 5,000 by 10a.m. the next day for him tolet me talk to her,” said MsSingh.

Kishore Kaushal, RanchiCity’s Superintendent of Po-lice, said the ransom amountwas an indication that thecaller may not be the actualkidnapper. “It looks like theman is trying to scam themother. We have providedChennai police with infor-mation that could lead tohim. A team of policemenwill start for Chennai on Sat-urday in an attempt to appre-hend this man,” he said.

One detained

Based on the informationprovided by the Ranchi po-lice, Chennai policemen onWednesday detained an indi-vidual. “What we had was

the address used to obtainthe SIM card from where thecalls were made to the moth-er. We detained a man namedVijay S., but someone elseseems to have obtained theSIM using his identity,” said asenior police officer. The

suspect’s phone number hasbeen switched off since hemade the call to the mother—who has refused to pay un-less she talks to her daughterfirst — on Wednesdayafternoon.

Baidyanath Kumar, whoseNGO operates the Facebook

page from which the suspectcould have obtained infor-mation on the girl, said hecalled up the number. Heconvinced the man that hewas a policeman. “He said hegot the mother’s numberfrom our Facebook post. Theman identified himself as Vi-jay and admitted that hemakes such calls often.”

‘New trend’

Rishi Kant, who runs theanti-human trafficking NGOShakti Vahini, has been coor-dinating with the Chennaipolice on behalf of the girl’sfamily. “This is a new trendin child-missing cases andcan be tackled only with ef-fective coordination be-tween the police forces of various States.”

Ranchi City SP also saidhis team was looking into an-

other lead. “We have beentrying to track down a rela-tive of the girl who phonedher before she went missing.The woman in question anda man were spotted in theirvillage in Aurangabad alongwith the girl later,” he said.

DEEPU SEBASTIAN EDMOND Chennai man issuspected to havecalled up girl’smother in Ranchi todemand Rs. 5,000

Police from 2 States on trail of man claiming to be kidnapper

KOCHI: Much to the relief of vehicle manufacturers, theKerala High Court on Fridaystayed for two months a di-rective of the National GreenTribunal’s (NGT) Kochi Spe-cial Circuit Bench to the

State government not to al-low registration of new die-sel vehicles of 2,000 cc andabove.

Justice P.B. Suresh Kumarissued the directive on a writpetition filed by the NipponMotor Corporation PrivateLimited challenging theNGT directive.

However, the other direc-tive of the tribunal to the gov-ernment not to permit dieselvehicles older than 10 yearsin Thiruvananthapuram,Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur,Kozhikode, and Kannur ci-

ties will stand.The court observed that a

close reading of the tribu-nal’s order indicated that theapplicant before the tribunalhad never contemplatedsuch an order. The aver-ments in the application, onwhich the tribunal passed

the order, were essentiallyagainst the vehicles manu-factured by Volkswagen andenvironmental pollution inthe cities.

Study on pollution

The Lawyers Environ-mental Awareness Forum,

the applicant before the tri-bunal, had not even soughtan interim order of this na-ture. It was also seen that theorder was passed at the timeof admission of the applica-tion. The application by theforum sought only a final or-der after a detailed study of

the quality and standard of pollution in the Statethrough the National Envi-ronmental Engineering Re-search Institute (NEERI).

The court also observedthat even assuming that thegrievance of the applicantbefore the NGT related toenvironmental pollution inthe State, there was absolute-ly no data available beforethe tribunal to pass such anorder, which would affectcommercial activities of theState as also the use of vari-ous public service vehicles.

NGT directive asking Kerala government not to permit automobiles older than 10 years will stand

HC stays curbs on new diesel vehiclesSPECIALCORRESPONDENT

The NGT’s order isfarcical as it has notevaluated any data orevidence on pollutioncollected throughestablished procedures.

PETITIONER

The provision in NGT Act for appealing against its orderbefore the Supreme Court does not preclude the High Courtfrom entertaining a petition filed under Article 226 of theConstitution in view of various Supreme Court orders.

HIGH COURT OF KERALA

HC OBSERVATION ON NGT ACT

MANDYA: In a shocking inci-dent, a gram panchayat pres-

ident, who is also a Janata Dal(Secular) leader, allegedly at-tempted to rape a Group ‘D’employee at his office inMaddur taluk of the district.

The incident occurred onThursday evening and cameto light on Friday, when the

victim narrated her ordeal tothe locals. The incident wasrecorded by the CCTV cam-eras installed at the office.

The accused has beenidentified as Chandrahas(33) of Basavalingana Doddi,president of Kestur GramPanchayat.

Following the complaint,Kestur police arrested himon Friday evening.

Village chief held for attempted rape

S TAFFCORRESPONDENT

KOZHIKODE: The Kozhikodedistrict unit of the BusOperators Association has

decided to pull out over2,000 private buses fromJune 6 in protest against theNGT order that more than10-year-old vehicles with2,000-plus cc diesel enginebe taken off the roads.

Federation president P.Moideen Kutty said privatebuses were being operated ascity services, peripheralservices and to nearbydistricts.

Ninety per cent of thevehicles fell under thecategory the tribunalmentioned.


Call for strike

TUMAKURU (KARNATAKA): Fifteen-year-old Dalit girl Kamala(name changed) thought shewas lucky when she was res-cued from the clutches of thewoman who had pushed herinto flesh trade.

But the teenager returnedhome only to find that herfamily did not want her backbecause of the “stigma” shecarried.

The girl, a Class 7 dropout,is at present housed in a gov-ernment-run girls’ home andhopes to continue her educa-

tion. The woes of Kamala,from the Turuvekere taluk of Tumakuru district, beganwhen she was spotted byRatna, a “well-wisher”, in thehouse of her grandmother.

Lured by ‘sympathiser’Ratna befriended Kamala

and her grandmother over aperiod of six months, pre-tending to be a sympathiser.She occasionally took thegirl to her house at Turuvek-ere.

On one such visit, Ratnalocked Kamala up in a roomand never let her go back.

She allegedly forced her intosex work.One of Kamala’s cousins

spotted her entering a hotelin Tiptur and she was res-cued with help from thepolice.

What awaited Kamalawhen she returned to her vil-lage was shocking.

“After my father came toknow about what I had beenthrough, he declared that Iwould be better off dead. Heasked people to pour kero-sene on me and kill me ratherthan bring me home,” the girlsaid.

Family rejects teen rescuedfrom flesh trade in KarnatakaS. BHUVANESHWARI



CMYK

ND-ND

NATION |9THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

KOTTAYAM: Organ transplant inKerala appears to be movinginto a sphere of larger socie-tal acceptance with the deci-sion of Bishop Jacob Murick-en, auxiliary bishop of thePala diocese of the Syro-Ma-labar Church, to donate hiskidney to 30-year-old Surajfrom Kottakkal in Malappu-ram district.

According to Fr. DavisChiramel, founder of theKidney Federation of India,the formalities have beencompleted with the reviewof the authorised committeeat Government Medical Col-lege, Kottayam, on Friday.

‘Acceptance level still low’

The transplant has beenscheduled for June 1 at a pri-vate hospital in Kochi. “Eventoday the acceptance levelfor organ donation is low.This gesture of Bishop Mur-ickan would go a long wayencouraging more people in-to the movement,” Fr. Chira-mel said.

It all began with a publicdiscourse on organ donationby Fr. Chiramel in Pala morethan a year ago, when theBishop, who was among theaudience, took it as a person-al challenge. After necessarydiscussions with his seniorsand appropriate bodies, theBishop informed Fr. Chira-

mel of his willingness to jointhe organ donation cam-paign commenced by thepriest who had donated hisown kidney earlier.

The opportunity came afew months ago when Suraj,who was seriously afflictedwith kidney trouble, regis-tered with the Kidney Foun-dation of India.

GEORGE J ACOB

Jacob Muricken willdonate his kidneyto a 30-year-oldfrom Kottakkal inMalappuram district

Bishop shows the wayin organ donation

Bishop Jacob Muricken

The inseparables

JOY RIDE: Two newborn ring tailed lemurs cling to their mothers at their enclosure in theIndira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam. Vizag Zoo is the only place in Indiawhere lemurs are successfully being bred in captivity. — PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

CHENNAI: The Indian Air Forceon Friday successfully test-fired a land-attack version of the supersonic cruise mis-sile, BrahMos, in the westernsector.

The flight-trial which tookplace in a firing range in thewestern sector, met its mis-sion parameters, a BrahMospress release said. The mis-sile destroyed a designatedtarget.

Its accuracy in mountainwarfare mode was re-estab-lished during a campaign bythe Army in the eastern sec-tor last year and repeatedlast month.

The missile system “hasempowered all the threewings of the armed forceswith anti-ship and land-at-tack capability,” the releasesaid.

It quoted Sudhir Mishra,Chief Executive Officer and

Managing Director of Brah-Mos Aerospace, as saying,“BrahMos has proved itsmettle once again as the bestsupersonic cruise missilesystem in the world.”

This brings to light thatthe IAF too has been

equipped with the land-at-tack version of BrahMos,which flies at a supersonicspeed of Mach 3 (that is,three times the speed of sound). The Navy and theArmy have already deployedthe two-stage missile, whichhas a range of 290 km.

Asked why the IAF shouldfire a land-attack version of BrahMos, informed sourcessaid two squadrons had al-ready been equipped withthe version. (One squadronhas about 70 to 80 missiles)The IAF had deployed themissile in the border areas totake out the enemy’s commu-nication towers, runways,and radar in case of a con-flict, the sources said.

The IAF is preparing tofire the air version of Brah-Mos from its Sukhoi-30 MKIfighter aircraft in the comingweeks, the sources said. “Allground tests have been com-pleted,” they added. A flightof Sukhoi-30 MKI with thelauncher took place a fewweeks ago and more suchtests would follow.

The missile destroyed

a designated target

IAF test-fires land-attack version of BrahMos


SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH: Thecruise missile being test-fired on Friday. —PHOTO: PTI

Gate. I was preserving everymoment of it through mycamera without a clue thatwe were making history,”

JAIPUR: Ironic though it maysound, a unique memorialcelebrating the Right to In-formation has come up in theBeawar town of Rajasthan —where the RTI movementhad started 20 years ago — ata time when the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party government in theState has opted to deletechapters on the evolution of RTI campaign and law fromits school textbooks.

Hundreds of people fromall walks of life, who gath-ered at Chang Gate in Bea-war on Thursday night tocommemorate the historic40-day dharna of 1996 forRTI, witnessed unveiling of

the aesthetically-built me-morial and demanded resto-ration of chapters dealingwith common people’s con-tribution to RTI in thetextbooks.

The dark blue memorial, isperhaps the only structure of its kind in the country, givingrecognition to peasants andlabourers who launched thecampaign for their right toknow about the way the gov-ernment functioned andspent the public money.

40-day dharna

“I can never forget those40 days when we sat on adharna organised by theMazdoor Kisan Shakti San-gathan (MKSS) at Chang

said Ashok Sain, an activist.The dharna, which lasted

40 days, went on to become amovement for transparency,accountability and participa-tory democracy and led tothe establishment of the Na-tional Campaign for People’sRight to Information(NCPRI).

A strong movement

The movement forced theRajasthan government topass the State RTI Act in2000, after which Parliamentenacted the RTI Act in 2005. Justice S.N. Bhargava, formerChief Justice of Sikkim HighCourt, who unveiled the me-morial, dedicated it to thepeople.

RTI gets a memorial in RajasthanMOHAMMED IQBAL

ODE TO STRUGGLE: The RTImemorial unveiled in Beawar,Rajasthan on Thursday.— PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

SRINAGAR: Opposition mem-bers from the National Con-ference, Congress and inde-pendent legislators stormedinto the well of the Jammu andKashmir Assembly on Friday

over the government’s inac-tion on the National Food Se-curity Act and the Handwarakillings.

“Ration and not speecheswill help,” shouted Congressleader Nawang Rigzin Jora.

Opposition NC legislatorswere seen waving bannersshowing the bodies of theHandwara victims.

Trouble started as soon asthe House met for the daywith the MLAs from the NC,the Congress, the CPI(M) andtwo Independents demandinga ruling from the Speaker onthe notices for AdjournmentMotion for a discussion on thekillings in Kashmir and imple-mentation of National FoodSecurity Act in the State.

The protesting MLAs fromthe NC and the Congressstormed the well of the Houseto press for their demands.

However, the speaker refusedto relent and conducted theproceedings amidst the din.

Later, Opposition membersas well as independent legisla-tors M.Y. Tarigami and Ha-keem Yaseen staged a walkoutamidst loud slogans saying‘ RSS ki sarkar ko ek dhaka

aur do’ (the RSS governmentrequires one more push tofall).

‘Alliance under pressure’

Speaking later on the Mo-tion of Thanks to the Gover-nor’s Address, former Chief Minister and National Confer-ence leader Omar Abdullahsaid Chief Minister Mehboo-ba Mufti was forced into form-ing the PDP-BJP coalition dueto internal fissures.

Mr. Abdullah targeted Ms.Mufti for “failure to revokeArmed Forces Special PowersAct (AFSPA), return of powerprojects, hold internal dia-logue with separatists and getSmart Cities” as per the ‘Agen-da of the Alliance’.

“Ms. Mufti only mishandled

the challenges so far. Whetherit was the Handwara or theNational Institute of Technol-ogy issues, Ms. Mufti under-played them and used herspokesman as a shield. Wewant to know what happenedin Handwara and who is re-sponsible for the killings. Ei-ther the girl is telling the truthor the police. If it is the girl, Iwould like the guilty to bepunished,” said Mr. Abdullah.

Describing the National Eli-

gibility-cum-Entrance Exam-ination (NEET) an “open as-sault on special status of J&K”,Mr. Abdullah said, “The Gov-ernment could not defend thecase in the Supreme Court de-spite education being in theState list.”

(With inputs from PTI)

Furore in J&K House overHandwara killingsPEERZADA A SHIQ

IN DISORDER: National Conference and Congress legislatorsprotest in J&K State Assembly. — PHOTO: NISSAR AHMAD

KOLKATA: Villagers in theheavily militarised areasof south Chhattisgarhhave embraced the tradi-tional Gond art to docu-ment fake encounters thatare not uncommon in thatpart of India. The last mo-ments of Gond tribals, asthey are killed by the secu-rity forces, are narrated onstone plaques called Mri-tak Sthamv. Kamal Shukla,a writer-journalist fromsouth Chhattisgarh whohas documented suchplaques, says he nevercame across such uniquestorytelling earlier.

The tribals often put upa stone or two to mark thepassing away of a member

in the village. The plaques(not headstones) are notplaced in the burialgrounds like in organisedreligion but mostly in anopen space near the vil-lage and coloured withpigments extracted fromtrees. But of late, the vil-lagers are documentingencounter killings onplaques.

Sulenga plaque

The plaque in Sulengavillage in Bijapur districtin Bastar Division isnamed after its residentHedma Ram, who waskilled on February 4. Hisname is painted at the top

of the plaque. The upperpanel shows a man, pre-sumably Mr. Ram, resting

while cattle graze around.He then gets surroundedby armed men in the sec-ond panel. “They are po-licemen with guns in theplaque, I confirmed itfrom the villagers,” saysMr. Shukla. The third pan-el, at the bottom of theplaque, shows Mr. Ram’sbody being “dragged bythe police”, with many ani-mals witnessing theencounter.

“Hedma Ram’s brotheris a Naxalite. Mr. Ram wastold to get him surren-dered, but he could not. Sohe was arrested on fakecharges and was releasedin January end,” says Mr

Shukla, who investigatedthe killing. However, hewas picked up within a

week of his release andkilled near Sulenga in a“fake encounter.” Follow-ing the incident, the policeclaimed that Hedma Ramwas “a wanted Naxalite”who carried a reward of Rs. 1 lakh on his head.

Journalists stopped

Mr. Shukla alleges thatsoon after Mr Ram’s deathhe tried to reach the familyin Sulenga but “was stop-ped” by police. He couldonly enter Sulenga laterwith journalists of nation-al television channels.Bastar’s journalists havetold The Hindu that theyare routinely stopped

from reaching the encoun-ter sites when Naxalites orcivilians are killed.

Chhattisgarh tribals use art to document encounter killingsSUVOJIT B AGCHI

The plaque in Sulenga villagein Bijapur district.

MUMBAI: The death toll in themassive explosion that de-stroyed a chemical factory inDombivli on Thursdaymorning went up to 11 by Fri-day evening.

Thane Police officials saidfive more bodies were pulledout of the debris on Friday,while one victim succumbedto severe burns.

Owners kin among dead

The two sons and a daugh-ter-in-law of Vishwas Vakat-kar, owner of the chemicalplant, were also among thedeceased.

“The unidentified malewhose body was pulled outof the wreckage on Thursdaywas identified as Sumit Va-katkar. Five bodies werepulled out on Friday. Theyincluded Sumit’s wife Sne-hal, and his brother Nandan.Of the remaining three, onewas identified as SushantKamble while two remainunidentified. Umesh Kahar,who was first admitted toIcon Hospital on Thursdayand later referred to Sionhospital, succumbed to hisinjuries on Friday, taking thetoll up to 11,” said Police In-spector Sukhada Narkar,Thane Police spokesperson.

Mumbai factorytoll mounts to 11SPECIALCORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: Haryana DGPK.P. Singh has triggered acontroversy with his remark

that common people, whocome across a miscreant try-ing to outrage the modesty of a woman or indulging in actsof arson or murder, have theright to “take his life.”

Mr. Singh, who was recent-ly made DGP after his prede-cessor Yashpal Singhal wasremoved in the wake of se-vere flak faced by the Statepolice over handling of the Jat stir, said citizens are notaware that they can take ac-tion when they come acrossviolations of law.

‘Common man unaware’

“Common citizens are notaware that this is not just theright that the law gives to on-ly policemen. If the commonman is witness to someoneinsulting a woman or indulg-ing in acts of arson by burn-ing someone’s property or

trying to kill a person, thelaw gives him the right totake the life of the person in-dulging in such acts,” DGPSingh said.

The DGP expressed theseviews while taking part in aconvention on the role of po-lice in Panchayati Raj in Ha-

ryana’s Jind on Friday, whereBJP MLA Prem Lata Singh,wife of Union Minister Bi-

render Singh, was present.He stressed that while it is

the police’s role to maintainlaw and order, one needs tounderstand the role of thecommon man.

“It is the police’s job tomaintain law and order butas common citizens, youhave to understand your role...,” he said.

Private defence

Sections 96 to 106 of theIndian Penal Code pertain tothe law relating to the rightof private defence of personand property.

The provisions containedin these Sections give au-thority to a person to usenecessary force against anassailant or wrong-doer forthe purpose of protectingone’s own body and propertyas also another’s body and

property when immediateaid from the state machineryis not readily available.

With the State policedrawing flak over its hand-ling of the Jat quota stir inFebruary, DGP Singh said theHaryana Police will not be amute spectator if any ruckus

is created in the future.In the backdrop of some

Jat leaders renewing the

threat to start the agitationafresh over their quota de-mand, the DGP said somepeople from outside theState are trying to disturb thepeaceful atmosphere but it isthe duty of locals to keepaway from them.

“Agitation is a ri ght but it iswrong when protesters dam-age the environment by cut-ting trees and cause damageto public and private proper-ty,” he said.

‘Deliberate negligence’

Notably, the Prakash SinghCommittee report whichwas submitted to the Harya-na Chief Minister recentlyfound “deliberate negli-gence” on the part of 90 offi-cials, including IAS and IPSofficers.

On May 17, the Haryanagovernment shunted out Ad-

ditional Chief Secretary(Home) P.K. Das who was re-placed by senior IAS officerRam Niwas. Thirty peoplewere killed in violence andthere was extensive damageto property during the stirwhose epicentre was Rohtakdistrict. — PTI

‘Citizens can act when they come across violations of law’

People can kill those indulgingin murderous acts, says DGP

JIND: A sedition casewas registered against Jat Sangharsh Samitichief Yashpal Malikand 125 others onFriday for allegedlythreatening peace andcommunal harmony inHaryana.

Mr. Malik hadorganised a meeting ata local Jat Dharamshalaon Wednesday wherehe announced anotheragitation on June 5,demanding reservationfor Jats, withdrawal of cases registered duringthe previous protestsand compensation tothose killed during theagitation.

“A case has been

registered againstYashpal Malik and 125others for instigatingpeople for agitationthat can disturb peaceand harm communalharmony in the State,”the police said. — PTI

Sedition

case against

Jat leader

LUCKNOW: In a relief to Mag-saysay-awardee social activ-ist Sandeep Pandey, the Alla-habad High Court on Fridayissued notice to senior offi-cials of the Banaras HinduUniversity and IIT-BHU di-

recting them to comply withits earlier order and reinstatehim.

The court gave the varsitytill July 13 to reinstate Mr.Pandey, who was sacked bythe IIT-BHU in January oncharges of engaging in activ-ities against the nation’s in-terests.

“A single-bench of JusticeManoj Mishra directed BHUvice-chancellor G.C. Tri-pathi and IIT-BHU DirectorRajeev Sangal to reinstateMr. Pandey. If they don’t,they should appear beforethe court in person to showcause,” Rahul Mishra, the so-cial activist’s advocate, toldThe Hindu.

The order was passed on acontempt petition filed byMr. Pandey on Wednesday.

Mr. Pandey, a Gandhian,alleged that in spite of a court

directive striking down histermination from IIT-BHU,officials were not letting himrejoin duty.

As Mr. Pandey’s contractexpires on July 31, he fearedthe delay could effectivelyblock his return to the class-room.

High Court asksBHU to reinstatesacked teacherOMAR R ASHID



CMYK

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EDITORIAL10 | THE HINDU SATURDAY,MAY 28,2016

NOIDA/DELHI

S AT U R D A Y , M A Y 2 8 , 2 0 1 6

CARTOONSCAPE

A s expected, U.S. President Barack Obamadid not utter any apology on behalf of hiscountry for dropping an atomic bomb on

Hiroshima in 1945. But such is the power of person-al presence that by the simple act of laying a wreathat the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on Friday, he sentout an uncommonly gripping message: you cannottruly commit yourself to preventing a repeat of anatrocity if you do not admit in the most candid man-ner that it in fact occurred. Mr. Obama did so with agesture that will be one of the defining images notonly of his presidency but also of the wider struggleto rid the world of nuclear weapons, when he em-braced a survivor of the attack. The visit did nothave the high emotionalism of Willy Brandt’s trip toWarsaw, when the West German Chancellor fell tohis knees, but the drift of history that Mr. Obamawas tugging at was different. He was walkingthrough such a political minefield to make it to the

memorial that it had not been certain till almost thelast moment whether he would even meet the sur-vivors, or hibakusha. “Death fell from the sky,” Mr.Obama said of the Hiroshima bombing, and itshowed that “mankind possessed the means to de-stroy itself.” The nearest any previous occupant of the White House had come to acknowledging thedevastation caused by the bombings in Hiroshimaand Nagasaki was Jimmy Carter, but only after hedemitted office. Mr. Obama’s call for a “moral revo-lution” issued at Hiroshima makes the sober, andsobering, point that the wrongs of living memorycannot be evaded, no matter what the provocation,and he did dwell on wartime Japan’s excesses.

On a narrower time horizon, Mr. Obama’s visit toHiroshima can be viewed against the backdrop of his landmark address in Prague in 2009, when helaid bare his disarmament agenda. He declared thatas the only country to have deployed the nuclearweapon, the U.S. had a moral responsibility to act.Those remarks earned Mr. Obama plaudits fromthe global peace movements, whereas hawks athome attacked him as an apologist President. Butthe pragmatist in Mr. Obama minced no words in

Prague, in saying that as long as nuclear weaponswere around, the U.S. would maintain a credible de-terrent, even while striving for a reduction in the ar-senals of Washington and Moscow. More recently,he made it clear that the point of the visit to Hirosh-ima was not to revisit Harry Truman’s decision.Therein lurks a hard-nosed, statesman-like ap-proach to rid the world of nuclear weapons. In histwo terms in the White House, Mr. Obama hasmade a modest beginning. Understanding his real-ism is critical to covering the long and arduous roadahead.

Mr. Obama atHiroshima

The Centre’s plan to identify surplus landheld by government departments and pub-lic sector undertakings with a view to auc-

tioning such land to the private sector, or deployingit for urban renewal projects, is noteworthy. This al-

so appears to be in sync with the Budget promise toencourage public sector firms to divest individualassets and re-invest the proceeds innew projects. Acommittee has been tasked with creating an inven-tory of public landholdings and identifying plotsthat are not needed for future expansion or strate-gic purposes, and thus could be alienated for otheruses. As past strategic disinvestment cases haveshown, valuation of land is a prickly issue that leav-es governments susceptible to extreme scrutinyfrom political peers as well as the auditor. In addi-tion, it can take years to conclude. For example, theTata Group bought a stake in VSNL in 2002, but thegovernment could only put a number on the valueof its extensive surplus landholdings by 2011. Tothat extent, the Budget’s promise to divest specificassets (such as land) of public sector firms —through the auction route with total transparency,it is to be hoped — seems pragmatic. More so sincethe Modi government has chosen to refrain fromany lock, stock and barrel privatisation of PSUs.

However, this approach also reflects a lack of in-stitutional memory in the government. Five yearsago, a scam-hit UPA government had set up theCommittee on Allocation of Natural Resources tosuggest transparent mechanisms that would elimi-nate discretionary powers in such allocations. Ithad determined not just how much land was underthe domain of Central government departments,but also how much was under encroachment. Of the 16 lakh acres of defence land outside the canton-ments, 11,000 acres had been encroached upon. Ev-ery department told the panel it had no land tospare that could be considered surplus. The com-mittee had mooted creating a depository of all gov-ernment/public sector land with satellite mappingdone to indicate actual usage, which it is hoped thenew panel will also do. Other recommendations arealso pertinent: land transactions should be on anoutright sale basis with the optimal land use beingapproved before the sale, via e-auction. It must alsobe kept in mind that this exercise is a minor recom-pense for the larger reform agenda that the govern-ment has set aside: amending the land acquisitionlaw. A model tenancy law that the NITI Aayog hasmooted as an alternative reform step to allow theleasing of agricultural land, also remains a work in

progress. The government needs to put more ener-gy into those solutions for faster economic growth.

Landing aquick-fix

Is China about to transform Pakistan? Theunanimous consensus in Pakistan is that it is,and quite comprehensively too. Since April2015, the term which has probably receivedfar greater traction in the print and electronicmedia, more than any other, is “game chang-er”.

This term does not refer to the change inpolicy and tactics of the Pakistan military,which initiated armed action against differ-ent categories of militants and Islamist radi-cals, first in the Pakistanireg ion, the Federal-ly Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), andnow more comprehensively in the rest of Pa-kistan under its “Zarb-e-Azb” campaign, andhas by most accounts changed the game re-garding support for Pakistan’s Islamist radi-cals, and as a result, allowed the military tore-emerge as Pakistan’s dominant institution.The “game changer”, which government offi-cials, military generals, diplomats, journal-ists and a host of other observers refer to, isthe $46 billion China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) project, a highway which is

to run from Kashgar in China to Gwadar inBalochistan, on the edge of the Persian Gulf,in Pakistan.

Fate changer

This Economic Corridor has been called a“game changer” and even a “fate changer” byan overly enthusiastic Pakistani press andgovernment, with some analysts even sayingthat this $46 billion “unprecedented” Chi-nese investment over the next decade-and-a-half will make Pakistan the next Asian Tiger.There has been an effusive “thank you” bygovernment officials and by analysts andjournalists made to China for agreeing tobuild the Corridor, with important Pakistanicommentators going so far as saying that thismeasure “speaks volumes about the commit-ment of the Chinese leadership towards Pa-kistan and its 180 million people”, especiallywhen contrasted to the (only) $5 billion in-vestment made by the U.S. in the period2009-15.

Moreover, the fact that the Chinese Presi-

dent, when he visited Pakistan in 2015, agreedto the $46 billion investment also gave rise toa sense of gloating in the press, since hepromised only $20 billion in investment toIndia when he visited the country in 2014.The Pakistani Finance Minister stated thatthe corridor would change the destiny notjust of Pakistan, but of three billion people inthe region! Such has been the hype over theprojected road. Clearly, all provincial govern-ments (with their own particular ethnic andregional alliances), political parties and in-terests realise the huge externalities whichare expected to accrue to the infrastructureand road building along the corridor, andhence their interest in acquiring political andeconomic returns from it.

There is an expectation, well-founded nodoubt, that such projects will give rise to jobs(particularly unskilled ones), will allow localbusinesses to benefit, and might open theway to development. Fortunately, some scep-tical commentators, th e very few who dare to

voice caution amidst the euphoric din stillringing through Pakistan and having to con-tend with allegations that they are unpatriot-ic and anti-national, have questioned wheth-

er the Chinese investment representsChinese strategic and economic interestssolely focussed on what will benefit China,much more than it does economic invest-ment which might be of some benefit to Pa-kistan in the end.

The Chinese President’s visit gave rise tothe signing of 51 Memoranda of Understand-ing and projects worth $46 billion in sectorswhich include energy, infrastructure, securi-ty, and broader economic development. Forenergy, $34 billion investment was envisagedand $12 billion in infrastructure projects. Itwas estimated that $15.5 billion would bespent on coal, wind, solar, and hydroelectricprojects. The ambitious plan includes energyprojects with a capacity close to 10,000 MWto be completed by 2018, with more to follow.Most of the money is expected to be spent onthe construction of the corridor itself. One of the key externalities to the Chinese invest-ment is the fact that a “Special Security Divi-sion” of the Pakistan Ar my, consisting of per-haps 10,000 Pakistani troops and headed by aMajor General, would be set up to guard theChinese workers and their investment, par-

ticularly in Balochistan, given the militancyand insurgency in the province.

Scale of the project

Even a year after the initiation of the CPECproject, there continues to be much ambigui-ty about what the $46 billion project entails.There is little public information and disclo-sure as to what will be built, how it will be fi-nanced (that is, whether some of the moneywill be a grant or a loan, and on what termsand from whom), and who will implementthe various parts of the corridor, which in-cludes roads, railway lines, pipelines and oth-er infrastructure. In fact, other than the moreobvious road which will link Kashgar to Gwa-dar, some other projects — such as a metrobus route in the city of Lahore — are report-edly to be part of the corridor. Such is the ab-sence of public information about this huge“fate changer”, causing much controversyand consternation, with allegations that thePunjab and its incumbent government,

which is also in power in Islamabad, will ben-efit disproportionately. Already, the provin-cial governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand Balochistan have claimed that they have

been short-changed.Nevertheless, one cannot deny the fact

that sections of what might constitute thecorridor have been constructed in the lastyear and work is underway in many regions.An important indicator of the work in pro-gress is the huge Chinese foreign direct in-vestment (FDI) which has come into Pakis-tan over the last year. Pakistan has been anFDI-starved country for a host of reasons, butthe first 10 months of the current fiscal year(Pakistan’s fiscal year runs from July to end

June) saw FDI increase by 5 per cent on ayear-on-year basis, to $1 billion, of which 55per cent came from China alone. In fact, Chi-na’s contribution to Pakistan’s FDI increased152 per cent over this period. The largestchunk of the FDI, 52 per cent, has gone to thepower sector, suggesting that work on CPEC-related infrastructure is underway. Much of the hype about the CPEC has also led to a“feel good” factor about prospects for Pakis-tani development, and many business and in-vestment interests are waiting in the wings tocash in once the corridor and its ancillary in-vestments take off.

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Ra-heel Sharif, who has just returned from ameeting with the Chinese Premier, has reit-erated the Pakistan military’s resolve to safe-guard the CPEC, and has stated on many oc-casionsthat all opponents to the project willbe dealt with. He was reported as saying re-cently that “hostile intelligence agenciesaverse to this grand project, especially Indianintelligence agency RAW ... [are] blatantly in-volved in destabilising Pakistan”, and that“we are totally aware of all campaigns againstthe corridor and I vow that the securityforces are ready to pay any price to turn thislong cherished dream into reality.” China’scivil and military leadership has also pledged“full support”. Much is at stake here, for bothcountries.

Different opportunities

The Nawaz Sharif government too cangain much with economic development link-ed to the corridor taking off, offering far grea-ter prospects for re-election in 2018 whensome projects come onstream. The Pakistanimilitary is an obvious beneficiary with its

role in security and with its fingers in numer-ous infrastructure and economic projectsaround the corridor. Perhaps some underde-veloped regions in Balochistan and KhyberPakhtunkhwa will also benefit. The Chineseare too savvy to invest in such a projec t with-out counting the numerous economic, geo-political and geostrategic returns to their in-vestment and agenda of regional economicconnectivity through their One Belt OneRoad initiative.

There are many unanswered concerns aswell. For Pakistan, will U.S. and Saudi imperi-alism now be replaced by the Chinese varie-ty? What if the Chinese interests shift to oth-er regions and projects, and CPECabandoned like some African mining site?Would India attempt to sabotage Pakistan'sfuture development, as the Pakistani ArmyChief has hinted? Does CPEC come at a costto the bonhomie between India and China?Or, will this be the great “dest iny changer” forPakistan at the further loss of its sovereignty,given the absence of any indigenous econom-ic strategy other than one corridor? There isbound to be an ancient Chinese proverb

warning about all eggs in one basket.

S. Akbar Zaidi is a political economist based in Karachi. Heteaches at Columbia University in New York, and at the IBAin Karachi.

The new game changer in PakistanMuch hope floats on the potential of the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — but manyare also highlighting the ambiguity about some links in the project

Some analysts are even sayingthat this $46 billion‘unprecedented’ Chineseinvestment will make Pakistanthe next Asian Tiger

S. A KBAR Z AIDI

Two years of governance

Two years of the BJP-ledgovernment have been remarkableand unique though marred onoccasion by avoidable controversies(“Govt. is accountable, pro-poor,says Modi”, May 27). Scams andnegativity have been replaced byserious governance and meaningfulschemes. Prime Minister NarendraModi’s hard work and enthusiasticpolitical leadership stand out. India’spositivism has been well projectedacross the world to reap gains. It i s areasonably good beginning for agovernment but it needs to end with

the promised results.N. Sadhasiva Reddy,Bengaluru

One of the highlights being touted isthe government’s corruption-freerecord so far. While it is undeniablethat Mr. Modi’s team has reason tobe euphoric on this score whencompared to the UPA government,there are several other areas wherethe government has to pull up itssocks and deliver on its pre-pollpromises.Little has been done on the blackmoney front while initiatives toameliorate the suffering of thefarming community because of drought have yet to bear fruit. Theinitial successes on the foreignpolicy front have all come undone inrecent times as we appear to haveantagonised our neighbours. Toomuch attention has been bestowedon trivial issues like rewritinghistory, a saffronisation of education,

renaming of schemes and roadswhile precious little has been doneto safeguard the interests of the

minorities. When will “Sabka saath,Sabka vikas” become the mantra?

C.V. Aravind,Bengaluru

The Assembly election results arewhere one can start to judge thegovernment. There is nothing muchto crow about since other partieswon more seats than the BJP; theonly gain, in Assam, was because of the three-term incumbency of theCongress. The Prime Minister is anexcellent orator given a lectern butcompletely tongue-tied when havingto confront any public issue thatseizes the minds of people. One sees

him as a person with a penchant forpopulist slogans and renamingschemes in order to bear an NDAsignature. The result is that theIndian public is confused about thevarious schemes which are beingrolled out in event managementstyle.The much-touted ‘Make inIndia’ is nothing new since theemphasis on indigenous productionhas been in existence since the firstFive Year Plan. Mr. Modi mustimprove the policy measures of hisgovernment which are today shallowand without meaning, anddemonstrate an ability to effectivelyhandle the economy to containinflation and to provide more jobs.

Srinivas Kamat,Alto Santa Cruz, Goa

A look at the reality will revealmuch. In the case of the Ministry of Corporate of Affairs (MCA), underthe control of the Finance Minister,the failure is promine nt. To

implement the “ease of doingbusiness” policy, the MCA shouldfunction efficiently and be more

corporate friendly. Its portal/website does not function half thetime.A National Company Law Tribunalis yet to be established.

R. Balasubramaniam,Chennai

Crores of rupees are being spent onpublicity, and only in Hindi, thoughthe achievements are nothing muchto crow about. Is the governmentplanning for 2019 already? Thecommon man is reeling under pricerise and high taxes. Nothing is beingdone to tackle the drought. Theblack money issue has been

forgotten.S. Shashidhar,Bengaluru

Has it been two years since the BJPstopped campaigning and startedgoverning? That said, two years istoo short a time to take stock of agovernment that has unveiled aplethora of pronouncements. With40 per cent of his tenure behind him,Mr. Modi might have emerged withhis popularity intact but that of hisgovernment is fading. Overall, thebalance sheet shows strengths ingovernance but liabilities in politics.

J.S. Acharya,Hyderabad

Its biggest achievement has been itsrock-solid political stability with noteven a murmur of dissent. Althoughthe BJP in its manifesto promised alot for every section of society, alarge chunk of commitments is stillto see the light of day. The

unemployment rate is growingdespite development initiatives.There has been no official word on

the revival and passage of thewomen’s reservation law. There maynot be any corruption scam, but a lotneeds to be done to refurbish ourpublic and police administration.

Hemant Kumar,Ambala, Haryana

Two years have seen the launch of an unprecedented number of newschemes, with each designed tocleverly boost the image of thePrime Minister. However, thejudgment should be based on theoutcome and not on the fanfare withwhich programmes are launched.Swachh Bharat is illustrative of the

manner in which programmes arelaunched and forgotten. Under

Jan-Dhan Yojana, thousands of bankaccounts have been opened. Howmany accounts have turneddormant? How has theindiscriminate opening of accountsunder government pressure servedthe cause of financial inclusion? ThePrime Minister’s personality-oriented approach to foreign policyissues has substantially underminedthe standing of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Manohar Alembath,Kannur

Attacks on African nationals

As one who was born and raised inAfrica, I can understand the anguishof African diplomats in India inconnection with the fatal attack on aCongolese student in New Delhi(“Envoy raises retaliatory attackswith Congo”, May 27). The

government should set up fast trackcourts to deal with such cases. Weshould also not forget that there are

lakhs of Indians who are workingand settled in various Africancountries. These incidents happenbecause of cultural differences andalso out of ignorance of the lifestyleof African nationals.

K.P. Pillai,Thiruvananthapuram

We must treat all our foreign friendsand guests with respect just as wewould expect to be when we goabroad. Most people do not realisethat India and Africa accommodatemultiple ethnicities. Also, withChina aggressively pursuing itsinterests in Africa, India can ill-

afford to antagonise Africa. Theparadox in all incidents of racisminvolving Indians is that Indians arenot only victims of racism(particularly in the West) but alsoperpetrate racism towards others.

Akshay Viswanathan,Thiruvananthapuram

Bans on women

The Council of Islamic Ideology’srecommendation (‘World’ –“‘Husbands in Pak. should beallowed to beat wives’”, May 27makes a mockery of civilised life andamounts to a violation and denial of rights to women for a peaceful life.Who is to adjudicate whether awife’s act is disobedient or not andwhat a “light beating” is all about?What about similar acts committedby men? Who will “lightly” beatthem in case they “disobey”? It allglaringly points to male dominanceand male chauvinism in the name of

religion.R. Sampath,Chennai

LETTERS TO THE EDITORLetters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full po stal address and the full name or the name with ini tials.



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PERSPECTIVE | 11THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In thecase of the upcoming biopic on Dutch painter Vincentvan Gogh, it is probably worth a thousand frames, ormore. The idea for Loving Vincent, the first animationfeature film to be made entirely with paintings, camefrom the artist’s own words. Slated for release in 2016and produced by BreakThru Films, best known fortheir Oscar-winning short Peter and the Wolf (2006),

the film draws upon one of the last letters that Vincent wrote to his brotherTheo and which was found on the painter’s body after his tragic death. VanGogh’s words — “…we cannot speak other than by our paintings” — per-

haps betray his faith in the power of the form he practised. But more impor-tantly, in the context of the film, they draw attention to the subjectivity of the artist and how it translated onto the painted canvas.

In a way, the film is one more addition to the abounding biographical ma-terial — novels, poems, songs, films — which has become a part of popularculture and exists as a result of a persistent interest in the painter’s life.What sets the film apart, however, is the way in which it promises to tell thestory of van Gogh’s life. An ambitious project from the outset, it hired closeto 100 artists to hand-paint around 57,000 frames in the style of the famousPost-Impressionist painter. The trailer offers a glimpse of how through ani-mation these beautiful masterpieces have been brought to life, their charac-ters and landscapes acquiring a reality accorded by the medium of cinema.

Films on art

The basic idea that the film hinges upon — creating a narrative of the art-ist’s life entirely out of his paintings — is not a new one, however. In the late1940s and early ’50s, French filmmaker Alain Resnais set out to make a cou-ple of documentaries about artists and their paintings, which, as EmmaWilson notes, contributed to the genre of the ‘film sur l’art’ (‘ film about art’)which developed in France betweenthe period 1945 and 1960. Resnais,along with filmmakers like AgnèsVarda, Chris Marker, Henri Colpiand Jacques Demy, belonged to theLeft Bank Group of the French NewWave movement who were known

for their radical experimentationswith the form and their interest in bringing cinema closer to the other arts.Starting off with a series of 16 mm. shor ts on young unknown artists, Res-

nais soon shifted focus to more prominent figures. Van Gogh (1948), hisfirst widely recognised work, makes self-conscious use of several cinemat-ic tools to give life to and cull out a story from a set of static, a lbeit exquisite,paintings. At the same time, it throws light on the inner world of the artist.In this carefully narrated 20-minute film, one sees the kind of editing effectswhich would later lead critics to align Resnais’s f ilmmaking to that of Sovietmaster Sergei Eisenstein and his theory of montage. Together with the re-lentless cutting and pasting together of details from painted canvases, thereis the tracking movement of the camera over the paintings which gives theimages an inherent sense of motion. This is a technique especially evidentin the closing minutes of the film where the camera flits in a frenzied paceacross paintings evoking van Gogh’s last days to portray the growing crisisin his life. These tracking shots are accompanied by slow fades and dis-solves, and the use of a soundtrack that does more than simply complementthe images.

Resnais continued to explore the potential of the genre in films like PaulGauguin (1950) and Guernica (1950), based on Picasso’s famous paintingcomposed in response to the bombing of innocent civilians at Guernicaduring the Spanish Civi l War. Each of these early f ilms is remarkable for theway in which it highlights the creative workings of both artists — the onemaking the film and the one whose works it features.

The tortured artist had once believed that his paintings were his only wayto communicate with the world. The world in turn seems to have followed

his example — time and again, it has turned to his art to tell his story.Sucheta Chakraborty is a Mumbai-based freelance writer

Everybody loves Vincent

Van Gogh believed that hispaintings communicatedwith the world. Now theworld has turned to hispaintings to tell his story

If anything perfectly captures the cradleof the country’s Green Revolution andits extensive network of canal-fed irri-gation, it is the blue-green waters of theSutlej flowing through the Bhakra mainline canal. The 164-km channel, with acarrying capacity of 12,455 cusecs andbuilt between 1950 and 1954, supplieswater to Punjab, Haryana and Rajas-than. Just where it branches off into Ra-jasthan and Haryana, however, thescenes at a sluice gate convey whatmany think is the underside of the suc-cess story — the rise in rural distress.Over a dozen people are craning theirnecks for a better view of the gushingwater. They are looking for their mis-sing kin here.

The sluice gate in Khanauri-Kalanvillage in Sangrur, and the siphon in Pa-darth Khera village in adjoining Harya-na, are where a number of bodies aregetting washed up. The sight of dogs

dragging away the mutilated bodies andfeeding on them is not uncommon.“My elder brother Balwinder Singh is

missing... We found his clothes near thecanal in Sirhind and immediatelyrushed to Khanauri in search of him,”says Paramjit Singh from Khanna-Khurd village in Ludhiana, sitting in asmall shed overlooking the canal nearthe sluice gate, which has ‘missing’ post-ers pasted all over. “He was the bread-winner of the family… for the past fewmonths he was in some sort of tension,but he never shared it with us. Our live-lihood is based on farming, but the re-turns have been falling,” adds Mr. Pa-ramjit, who has been in Khanauri formore than five days with a friend.

In search of bodies

People come to Khanauri f rom Ropar,Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala and Sangrur,the districts through which the canalpasses. With the government not doingits bit, the local Sahara Charitable Trusthas built a rest house for visiting fam-ilies and local gurdwaras provide themfood. There’s not even a mortuary here,a long-standing demand of both localsand visiting family members.

In absence of any proper institution-alised mechanism to retrieve corpses,private divers — operating without

proper kits and charging anywhere be-tween Rs.5,000 and Rs.15,000 — are theonly hope for families. “There’s not asingle day when I don’t see anothercorpse in this canal. In fact, in the pasttwo-three months I have been sightingtwo-three human bodies daily,” saysAshu Malik, a Khanauri-based diverwho has been recovering bodies forover 25 years. “Besides, many bodies gounnoticed because they are submergedor they pass the barrage at night.”

In 2012 the Punjab and Haryana HighCourt directed the State government toinstall underwater cameras in the Bhak-ra canal above the Khanauri Headworksto spot bodies, but the cameras are yetto be installed. However, the Saharatrust has helped erect around 20 floo-dlights and 13 CCTV cameras at the gateand main canal for better sighting.

Looking the other way

The police station is hardly a fewhundred metres away from the canal’ssluice gate, but the men in khaki are re-luctant to retrieve these bodies due tolong-drawn procedures and legal tan-gles in case of unidentified bodies, saylocals, and also because the onus is then

on them for cremating the dead, lodginga report and settling jurisdiction. Kul-deep Singh, sarpanch of Khanauri-Khurd village, claims that although thepolice adopt due process for the bodiesthat are claimed or identified, many uni-dentified bodies are either not fishedout or are thrown back into the canal.“The police let many corpses float awayinto Rajasthan and Haryana,” he alleges.

The police rubbish the allegations.“Whenever a body is sighted necessaryaction is taken by the police,” insists Se-nior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur,Pritpal Singh. “Even underwater cam-eras were installed, but they were dam-aged by stones and mud that come withthe flow of water,” he adds. “We main-tain a record. Between April 2015 andMarch 2016 we have recovered 29 bod-ies... there’s no truth to two-three sight-ings a day,” says Baljeet Singh, the Kha-

nauri Station House Officer. He,however, concedes that there is always achance that bodies which are not sight-ed could cross the barrage and flowdownstream. “We’ve had a police postnear the canal since 2014, and just fewmonths back we’ve posted four police-men for round-the clock vigil and to as-sist families of victims,” he added. It’sanother matter that no policeman wasseen manning the ‘post’ for almost fourhours.

The spike in corpse sightings duringthe past two-three months has raisedconcern among local NGOs, humanright activists and agriculture experts,who link it to agrarian distress along thestretch of canal in the Malwa region, theepicentre of farmer suicides in the State.

Rural suicides

A survey by the Baba Nanak Educa-tional Society, a Sangrur-based NGOthat runs a rescue-and-revival projectfor families of suicide victims, revealedthat the Lehra, Andana, Sunam blocks(Sangrur), Patran block (Patiala), Bud-hlada block (Mansa) and four villages inneighbouring Haryana have witnessedas many as 2,342 rural suicides from the

late 1990s to 2015. “A majority of thesesuicides were of farmers and farm la-bourers who had taken loans from mon-eylenders. In many cases multiple sui-cides have taken place in the samefamily,” says Surjit Singh, field officer of the NGO.

Surveys jointly conducted by thePunjab Agricultural University, Ludhia-na, Punjabi University, Patiala and GuruNanak Dev University, Amritsar for theperiod 2000-2010 show that more than7,000 farmers and agricultural labourerscommitted suicide in the State due toagrarian distress and indebtedness. Thesurveys also revealed that nearly 34 percent of the victims chose canals to com-mit suicide. A PAU report on the twodistricts worst hit, Sangrur and Bathin-da, had put the farmer suicide figure at1,757 between 2000 and 2008. SeniorPAU economist Sukhpal Singh, who au-thored the report, says 1,288 (73.3 percent) farmers committed suicide pri-marily due to indebtedness.

Inderjit Singh Jaijee, a human rightsactivist and the convener of MovementAgainst State Repression, has even tak-en up the issue of floating unidentifiedbodies with the National Human Rights

Commission, following which onMarch 13, the NHRC directed the Pun-jab government to file a report on theissue.

“Local villagers and private divershave been sighting 30-45 bodies on aver-age every month, but now this numberis rising, which should not be ignored.Recovery of all bodies from the canal isimportant not only as a humanitarianstep, but will also help give a clearer pic-ture of all deaths by unnatural causes inPunjab,” says Mr. Jaijee. “The bodiesought to be disposed of in a dignifiedmanner. The insensitivity of those at thehelm of affairs reflects their mindsetabout the problems faced by the peo-ple,” says Lakhwinder Singh, professorof economics at the Punjabi University.

Even if one were to dispute the num-bers at the Khanauri barrage, the fact isthat Bhakra main line canal comprisesonly 159 km of Punjab’s 14,500-km-longcanal system. If so many sightings werereported from just the Bhakra, it’s any-body’s guess what the number of bodiesfloating down all canals in Punjab mightbe.

[email protected]

The bodies of evidence in PunjabIs a reported spike in corpse sightings at a sluice gate along the Bhakra main line canal linked to rising agrarian distress in the Malwa region? The jury is still out, and the State government refuses to wade into it

V IKAS V ASUDEVA

The police are reluctant toretrieve these bodies due tolong-drawn procedures andlegal tangles in case of unidentified bodies, say locals

ARDUOUS TASK: “In absence of any proper institutionalised mechanism to retrieve corpses, private divers are the only hope forfamilies.” Ashu Malik, a Khanauri-based diver, removing a corpse on the Haryana-Punjab border. — PHOTO: AKHILESH KUMAR

“The Mona Lisa Curse,” replies RiyasKomu, artist and sculptor, when askedwhich film on art or an artist appeals tohim most. “With all the depth of cine-ma, it dissected what the art world is allabout, how the image dictated and de-termined the power of the commercialart market,” he explains. The 2008 doc-umentary by art critic Robert Hughesexplores the influence — dispropor-tionate, as some would argue — thatthis Leonardo Da Vinci painting has onthe art world, and the rise of an exploita-tive art market. Komu says he missessuch films in India, the ones that laybare the world of art. The reason whythey remain few and far between is be-cause art is viewed as elitist in thiscountry, he says, appealing to connois-seurs rather than permeating the livesof the ordinary.

Subgenres in art films

The art film genre can be divide d intoseveral subgenres, says cultural com-mentator Sadanand Menon. There aredescriptive films, like Satyajit Ray’s The

Inner Eye, that provide historical con-text to an artist and his or her creations.Ray’s 1972 documentary on a blind artistand teacher, Benode Behari Mukherjee,

from Visva-Bharati University comeswith the filmmaker’s own sonorous,weighty commentary. Arun Khopkar’s

Figures of Thought on Bhupen Khakar,Nalini Malani and Vivan Sundaram, andColours of Absence on Jehangir Sabava-la are the most celebrated and cerebraldocumentaries on Indian artists.

Then there is Chetan Shah’s TheOpen Frame, about the personal andartistic journey of S.G. Vasudev. AsShah says, the thrust for him was not tobe evaluative of Vasudev, but document“how he works, his contribution to theworld of art, how he brought art to theforefront in schools, the setting up of Cholamandal Artists’ Village, how hehas been promoting young artists.”Shah, when he sets out to make a per-sonality-based film, has one rule: nei-ther vilify nor eulogise; just let the sub-jects reveal their mind, heart, and soul.“It’s about exploring life, art, and thestriking nature of their work,” he says.“It’s the journey of the artist — its phas-es, the different series of paintings, the

maturing — which is most fascinating.”Another subgenre tries to provide the

viewer the experience of producing the

work of art herself. A Far Afternoon— A Painted Saga, a recent nationalaward-winning documentary on Krish-en Khanna by Sruti Harihara Subrama-nian, is one such film. It attempts to“memorialise the artistic process” bydocumenting and archiving the processof creation of one of Khanna’s largest

canvases, from the start to the finish.Khanna’s influences are also shown inthe film. While it took Khanna six

months to make the painting, the filmcame together in ten.

Most art films, according to Menon,are those that romanticise the artist.They talk about struggles, about beingmarginalised and misunderstood. “InHindi cinema of the 1940s and ‘50s, youwould often have the hero say ‘ Main ka-lakaar hoon.’ He was this highly ideal-ised figure with a clean heart and clearvision. He spoke on behalf of the under-dog, and the proletariat influenced bythe socialist ideals of the day and theLeft-oriented artist movements,” hesays. Menon’s grudge is that most films

on art only “objectify” the art or the art-ist without cinematically exploring thesubversive potential there. So you have

Salma Hayek ‘portraying’ Frida Kahlo,or Randeep Hooda pulling off a Raja Ra-vi Varma in Rang Rasiya, but “these aremerely representational,” says Menon.“They are unable to unpack the almostradical potential of the subjects theyhave gone close to,” he rues.

Entering a painting

A good film on art, according to him,is one that will pull the average smugself-satisfied viewer out of their com-fort zone and show an aspect of resist-ance and a world view that they havenever been exposed to before. In otherwords, this would mean sensually en-tering the work of art, unpacking itsstructure, and reassembling it withinthe durational framework of cinema.This is something that takes place in themagic realism segment of Akira Kurosa-wa’s Dreams(1990). An art student en-ters a Vincent van Gogh painting andfinds himself inside his world. There hemeets the artist (Martin Scorsese).With the student enters the viewer, lit-erally touching the yellow corn fieldsand the crows. Art has never been moretangible on screen.

In other words, like any other goodfilm, a film on art has to be as muchabout form as about content. “Ultimate-ly a relevant film on art is one which isin itself an artistic form,” says Menon.

This underlines the importance of Amit Dutta. The 2004 graduate of

Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India has been the most consistent inengaging with art in films. He is knownto read, see, and internalise an enor-mous amount of information on thesubjects of his films and has even triedhis hand at painting. One of his earliestworks, Film 1, was on the success anduntimely demise of the pioneeringyoung Gond artist, Jangarh Singh Shy-am. Ramkhind was about a day in thelife of Warli painters of a village. Saat-vin Sair was on the celebrated Indianlandscape painter, Paramjit Singh.

However, his most significant film isNainsukh, on the life of the 18th centurypainter of the Kangra region. The film isnot just about the art and the artist; it isalso about how the film chooses to cap-ture all this on screen. Dutta draws fromthe artist’s own work, gets inside hisworld, and renders the film in the styleof the painter. In Nainsukh he recreateswhat he sees in the paintings. The de-tails and the background make for theframes of the film itself. The entire film

feels like a series of miniature paintings.

[email protected]

A good film on art or an artist is as much about form as it is about content

PROBING DEEP: “The Mona Lisa Curse explored the influence that the painting had onthe art world and the exploitative nature of the commercial art market.”— PHOTO: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

N AMRATA JOSHI

Most films on art romanticisethe artist and explore his orher struggles. The art is“objectified”; its subversivepotential is not explored

Canvases on celluloid

IPSO FACTO

WIDE ANGLE

SUCHETA CHAKRABORTY

Lakhwinder Singh , professor of economics, and coordinator at theCentre for Development Economicsand Innovation Studies at PunjabiUniversity, Patiala, who has beenmapping rural Punjab for decades,speaks to Vikas Vasudeva onagrarian distress. Excerpts:

What has sparked the agrarian crises inPunjab?

Punjab’s Green Revolution waspredominantly state-led agriculturalcapitalism. It dramatically reducedpoverty among non-landedhouseholds.

However, after 1991, with the statefailing to provide services such aseducation and healthcare efficientlyand encouraging the private sector toprovide the same at a very high price,surpluses generated in the agriculturesector have been squeezed. Also,mechanical and chemical innovationsand their use in agriculture made

family labour redundant withoutalternative jobs in sight. The cost of cultivation has gone up multiple times.Small and marginal farms were the firstcasualty. Per acre debt is highest amongthe marginal and small farmers.

The agriculture-led development modelof Punjab was presented over the yearsas being worthy of emulation. What wentwrong?

Punjab not only achieved a leadingstatus in terms of productivity, percapita income and level of infrastructure but improved its humancapital and entrepreneurial skills. TheState also started industrialisation,which was part-autonomous and part-complementary to agriculture.

The problem is that Punjaboverstayed in agriculture and othersectors could not be developed to allowthe workforce to move to a highproductivity-high wages economy.Industry in Punjab has remained small.

‘Punjab overstayed in agriculture’



CMYK

ND-ND

NEWS12 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

FROM PAGE ONE

The IT department senta letter to the MHA on May18 seeking its opinion on in-voking OSA against Mr.Bhandari, sources said.

The department had alsosent a tranche of ‘classified’documents taken from Mr.Bhandari’s premises.

Despite repeated effortsby The Hindu, Mr. Bhanda-ri could not be contactedfor comments. Phone callsand an email sent to him re-mained unanswered.

Finding the source

The IT department isscrutinising the financialtransactions of Mr. Bhanda-ri’s companies to ascertainthe source of funds they re-ceived between 2009 and2014. It suspects that thesecompanies together re-ceived around Rs. 70 crorefrom over three dozen com-panies in multipleinstalments.

One of the eight compa-nies was recently in thenews after it entered into ajoint venture with twoprominent French firms,one dealing with weapons-to-aircraft interface sys-tems, while the other one isan aircraft manufacturer.

“Since the documentspertain to the Defence Min-

istry, they would be in a bet-ter position to say whetherthe documents were of aclassified nature or not. Wehave no wherewithal toverify the documents. Wehave written to the DefenceMinistry to examine thedocuments and decidewhether a criminal case ismade out or not against thecompanies and the busi-nessman,” said the official.

He explained that oncethe Defence Ministry tooka decision and requested aninvestigating agency likethe CBI or the Delhi Policeto probe the matter, theHome Ministry wouldcome into the picture. “If we are satisfied with the in-vestigating agency thatthere are enough groundsfor prosecuting the accusedunder OSA, then we give ago-ahead,” said the official.

The prosecution sanc-tion under OSA is given bythe Home Ministry, where-as the decision to invokeOSA is that of the investi-gating agency.

As reported by The Hin-

du on May 10, the Enforce-ment Directorate had alsoapproached the RBI and theIT department, for infor-mation on the companiesrelated to the businessman.

Defence Ministry totake a call on charges

NEW DELHI: After strippingStates of their authority to

conduct undergraduatemedical and dental entranceexams and compelling themto accept the National Eligi-bility cum Entrance Test(NEET), the Supreme Courton Friday refrained fromstaying a government ordi-nance diluting its judicialorder.

Despite pleas that the or-dinance challenged the veryauthority of the highest judi-ciary, the apex court refusedany immediate intervention.It argued that this would on-ly confuse students and di-vert their attention fromstudies.

The ordinance, which re-ceived Presidential assent

on May 24, partially eclipsesthe May 9 order of the Su-preme Court by allowingState governments to con-duct their own entrance ex-ams alongside the NEET forthis academic session alone.

The ordinance came afterthe apex court categoricallydeclared that the NEET, asingle window exam meant

to end corruption and the‘donation’ culture in medicaladmissions, is the only wayto gain admission to theMBBS and the BDS coursesacross the country.

“There should be somecertainty for students now.Moreover, the ordinance isonly for this year,” the Vaca-tion Bench of Justices P.C.Pant and D.Y. Chandrachudremarked.

This voice of restraintmarks a shift from how theapex court had earlier dis-missed the State govern-ments’ objections to NEETas “teething difficulties.”

In tense court hearingsduring this month, several

States had tried hard to con-vince the apex court thatmaking the NEET the solegateway to medical and den-tal studies was nothing shortof interference in their pre-rogative to hold separatetests.

State governments likeGujarat had submitted that itwould be “torture” to imposethe NEET on students men-tally prepared for State en-

trance exams. Tamil Naduhad highlighted the harsh-ness of suddenly exposingtheir students to the highlycompetitive NEET, especial-ly when the State had had noentrance exams since 2007.

States like Jammu andKashmir, Andhra Pradeshand Telangana had invokedspecial provisions in theConstitution to extend theircommon contention that

States have the sole legisla-tive competence to conductexams for the MBBS and theBDS courses.

The hearings had seen theCentre and the MedicalCouncil of India, too, backthe States’ plea to conductexams as a “special case” forthis year alone.

But a three-judge Bench

led by Justice A.R. Dave hadrefused to budge and heldthat “prima facie, we do notfind any infirmity in theNEET regulation on theground that it affects therights of the States and theprivate institutions.”

Reviving the NEET onApril 28, the Bench had or-dered the common entranceto be held in two phases. Thefirst phase had replacedAIPMT on May 1 with 6.5lakh students appearing forthe exam. The second phaseis scheduled on July 24.

Urgent hearing refused

The vacation Bench re-fused an urgent hearing to

petitioner Anand Rai, post-ing his petition after the sum-mer holidays, while the Cen-tre, represented by AttorneyGeneral Mukul Rohatgi,agreed that there was no“earth-shattering” reason totake it up now.

Mr. Rai, who wants the or-dinance to be eventuallyquashed, accused the Centre

of making a volte-face.But Mr. Rohatgi said the

Centre had every authority tocome up with an ordinancewith only the welfare of thestudents in mind. It said thatmany of these State examswere already over or in theprocess of being held by thetime Supreme Court passedits orders.

Meanwhile, Sankalp Char-itable Trust, the NGO whosePIL petition led to the May 9order, moved the SupremeCourt separately on Fridayagainst the ordinance, callingit “nothing but a transgres-sion by the Executive on theexercise of judicial functionsof the court.”

Intervention bycourt will onlyconfuse students,says Bench

SC declines to put NEET ordinance on hold

LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

LOUD AND CLEAR: Medical graduates staging a demonstrationin favour of NEET in Bengaluru. — FILE PHOTO: G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Mo-di Government has fulfilled18 per cent of the promisesthe BJP made in its electionmanifesto, and work is inprogress on 52 per cent, go-ing by the numbers.

That finding comes from‘Kulhar’, an organisationfounded by Mr. Kush Shar-ma, who has been a research-er with both the BJP and theCongress.

All 246 promises listed inthe Highlights of BJP’s Mani-festo for 2014 General Elec-tions were analysed, and“Only official sources such asannual reports, parliamen-tary questions and RTI re-plies were used for the re-search,” Mr. Sharma said.

As a manifesto is framedfor five years, this analysisgives a snapshot of the statusof the commitments aftertwo years. The time framefor execution has not beentaken into consideration.

The 35 promises that havebeen rated as ‘fulfilled’ in-clude launch of a Skill Devel-opment Mission and boost toentrepreneurship via pro-grammes like ‘Start-up In-dia’. Initiatives have beenlaunched to promote partici-patory governance andcrowdsourcing of ideas fromcitizens on important policyissues via http://www.my-gov.in. Improving upon pre-vious programmes, a newfarm insurance scheme waslaunched to take care of croploss due to natural calami-

ties. Also, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energyrevised the target of NationalSolar Mission upward fivetimes to create a capacity of 1lakh MW solar power by2022.

104 points taken up

Another 104 promises (52per cent) have been taken up.These include the SwachhBharat Abhiyan, which aimsto make the country opendefecation free by 2019. Fur-ther, the Goods and ServicesTax Bill was passed in theLok Sabha (and is pending inthe Rajya Sabha) to simplifythe indirect tax regime.

Work is on to providebroadband connectivity inevery village, interlink policestations under the Crime andCriminal Tracking NetworkSystem (CCTNS) projectand create 100 smart cities.

But no substantial work

has been done on 57 prom-ises (30 per cent), Mr. Shar-ma finds. These include res-ervation for women inParliament and Assemblies,fellowships and internshipsfor youth to contribute togovernance and framing of anational plan on the Maoistinsurgency. Also, fast trackcourts have not been extend-ed to all levels of the judici-ary and the number of judgesand courts has not been dou-bled, as promised.

The BJP also ‘broke thepromise’ of providing 50 percent profit in the MinimumSupport Price to farmers, Mr.Sharma says. After coming topower, they refused to act onthis, stating that doing socould distort the market.

Previously, The Hindu

tracked the manifesto prom-ises made by the Aam AadmiParty in Delhi and developedthe ‘AAP Meter’.

Two years on, Modimanifesto scores 70/100S AMARTHB ANSAL

NEW DELHI: BJP chief AmitShah kept up the momentumfor his party’s celebration of the second anniversary of the Narendra Modi-led NDAgovernment, saying the BJPhad fulfilled its electoralpromise of providing a deci-sive government at the Cen-tre — one that “ended theconfusion of the last few dec-ades over welfare versus re-forms, rural versus urban de-velopment and diplomacyover defence when it came tointernal security.”

“In two years, it has laid astrong foundation. In thenext three years, a strongbuilding of development willbe raised. I am sure thatwhen we go to the peopleagain for votes in 2019, wewould have fulfilled all ourpromises,” he said.

Cabinet reshuffle

Asked whether a Cabinetreshuffle was in the offing tofill the vacancy left by SportsMinister Sarbananda Sono-wal, who was sworn in as theChief Minister of Assam, theBJP president said, “It [re-shuffle] could happen, butdates are not fixed.”

Presenting the govern-ment’s two-year report card,Mr. Shah also pitched theparty’s “good” performancein the Assembly polls as thepeople’s mandate on contro-versies over Rohith Vemula’ssuicide and the JawaharlalNehru University issue. Hetook on the Congress, saying

that those who raised theseissues are “nowhere”.

Asked if the party had nowdecided to close the chapteron these controversial is-sues, he said, “People havealready done it.” He notedthat the Assembly polls wereheld in the wake of theserows. “Those who raisedthese issues are nowhere,” hesaid, a reference to the Con-gress’ defeats in Kerala andAssam, and the Left’s poorshow in West Bengal.

“When we came to power,the UPA's 10-year-rule hadleft behind an empty treasu-ry, policy paralysis, a demor-alised bureaucracy, de-spondent masses and a stateof hopelessness. The govern-ment has struck a balancebetween reforms and publicwelfare and got success,” theBJP president said.

He cited a string of figures,including the highest ever

urea and power production,highways construction, FDIinflow and forex reserves in2015-16, besides the pro-poorand pro-farmer schemes tounderline his point.

From Saturday, 30 BJPteams, comprising ministersand party office-bearers, willtravel across the country,holding events at over 200destinations to publicise thegovernment's achievements.

“Even our opponents can-not say that there is corrup-tion in this government. Theresponse of the governmentto people’s issue has been ex-emplary, the latest exampleof it is the Ordinance onNEET,” he said.

Asked about the criticismlevelled against the govern-ment by the Congress, MrShah brushed it away. “Didyou expect them to praisethis government?” he askedrhetorically.


PROMISES KEPT: BJP president Amit Shah addressing a pressconference in New Delhi on Friday. — PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

BJP has delivered ondecisive government: Shah

PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) chief Lalu Prasad’s el-

dest daughter Misa Bharti islikely to replace her motherRabri Devi as the party’snominee for the upcomingRajya Sabha poll while notedlawyer Ram Jethmalani willbe the other candidate.

The party had earlier con-firmed Ms. Devi as the nomi-nee for the seat in the Houseof Elders, but later decidedthat she would continue asthe leader of the RJD legisla-ture party in the Vidhan Par-ishad.

According to sources, thepolitically ambitious Ms.Bharti got her father tochange his mind. The sourc-es also told The Hindu thatMs. Bharti had earlier putpressure on her family to ac-commodate her in the NitishKumar-led Cabinet alongwith her brothers Tej Pratapand Tejaswi, but the matter

was dropped after a mara-thon family meeting. Thistime, however, she was firm.

Misa Bharti likely to replace Rabrias RS candidate

Misa Bharti

A MARNATH TEWARY

SHILLONG: Prime Minister Na-rendra Modi on Friday hint-ed at the possibility of up-grading the North EasternCouncil (NEC) as a state-of-the-art resource centre capa-ble of meeting the aspira-tions of the people.

The NEC was establishedin 1972 to act as a platform fordevelopment initiatives inthe region. “Perhaps, there isa need to re-orient and up-grade the NEC,” Mr. Modisaid at the NEC’s plenarysession here. The Governorsand Chief Ministers of allnorth-eastern States attend-ed the two-day 65th session.

“To meet the growing as-

pirations of the people, it isimportant that the NEC in-trospect and assess the ex-tent to which it has been ableto achieve its objectives,” hesaid. It should be developedas a “state-of-the-art re-source centre for the north-eastern States with neces-

sary resources, knowledgeand skills.” It could enablethe States and the imple-menting agencies to proper-ly plan and execute projects,promote research and inno-

vations and provide strategicpolicy vision for the region.

At a meeting here afterflagging off three new trains,Mr. Modi said his govern-ment intended to connect all

north-eastern States by railand upgrade road, telecomand power networks. He alsodedicated to the nation theDoppler Weather Radar atCherrapunji. — PTI

RAIN NO HURDLE: Khasi women on their way to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s publicmeeting in Shillong, Meghalaya, on Friday.— PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

North-east may get resource centre

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Senateis likely to pass an amend-ment to the 2017 NationalDefence Authorisation Act(NDAA) that seeks to easedefence trade with India tothe level of the North Atlan-tic Treaty Organisation (NA-TO) allies and close partnersof the U.S. such as Australiaand Israel next week, aheadof Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit on June 7 and 8.

The House of Representa-tives has already passedamendments similar to the

proposed Senate Bill, but thedetails vary between the two.U.S. legislative process re-quires both Chambers to rec-oncile their individual ver-sions of similar Bills, andpass a combined version be-fore sending for the approvalof the President.

Once the President signsthem into law, the amend-ments will enable defencetrade between the U.S. andIndia on automatic route fora range of equipment, by-passing the bureaucratic andlegislative hurdles in the ex-isting case by case approvalprocess.

“The Secretary of De-fence, in coordination withthe Secretary of State and theSecretary of Commerce,shall ensure that the author-isation of any proposed saleor export of defence articles,defence services, or techni-

cal data to India is treated ina manner similar to that of the U.S.’ closest partners andallies, which include NATOmembers, Australia, Japan,the Republic of Korea, Israeland New Zealand,” says theamendment by SenatorMark Kirk on Wednesday.

U.S. Senate to vote on pro-India defence law

V ARGHESEK. GEORGE

NEW DELHI: The UniversityGrants Commission (UGC)has set up a committee toprepare an exhaustive list of journals in which academicsmust publish if they wanttheir publications to earnthem points in the AcademicPerformance Indicators(API) system.

Headed by V.S. Chauhan of the UGC, the committee isexpected to finalise the draft

list in about six weeks, said asenior UGC official.

The API system awardspoints — these are countedfor promotion as also whileapplying for teaching jobs —for publications, which areseen as a sign of an academicbeing active in research.

The step follows the wide-spread perception that manyteachers in colleges and uni-

versities were claimingpoints for research publish-ed in sub-standard journals.

The Committee is in theprocess of consulting ex-perts from a range of organi-sations like the Indian Coun-cil of Medical Research, theCouncil for Scientific and In-dustrial Research, etc., todraft its listcomprehensively.

Experts in social sciencesand other fields are also be-ing consulted.

“They will come up withbenchmarks in terms of im-pact factor of the journals.

This will have weightagewhen the list is drafted,” a se-nior UGC official told The

Hindu.As per the UGC’s recent

notification, a person gets 30points for publishing a bookbrought out by an interna-tional publisher, 20 for abook brought out by a na-tional publisher, 15 points forpublishing an article in a ref-

ereed journal and 10 pointsfor an article in other reput-ed journals.

V IKAS P ATHAK

Tight norms soon for journal publications

NEW DELHI: A committee head-ed by the former Cabinetsecretary T.S.R. Subrama-nian for the evolution of thesoon-to-be-announced na-tional education policy sub-mitted its report to the Hu-

man Resource DevelopmentMinistry on Friday.

“The Committee has ex-

amined the large body of out-come documents, recom-mendations and suggestionsreceived from the variousconsultations. The Commit-tee also had several meetingswith various stakeholdersand held regional consulta-tions as well as undertaken

field visits to educational in-stitutions,” according to anofficial release.

Panel submits report onnew education policy SPECIALCORRESPONDENT

Asserting that it had be-come imperative for partieshaving similar ideologies todiscuss a larger coalition,Mr. Lalu Prasad said, “If wefail to wake up in time and

don’t unite, the BJP and theRSS will divide thecountry.”

Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, Mr.Arvind Kejriwal and Mr.Nitish Kumar, however, didnot make any comment onthe front. DMK leader K.Kanimozhi was also pre-sent at the function, attend-ed by Bhutan’s Prime Min-ister and the IndustryMinister of Bangladesh.

After the ceremony. Ms.Banerjee went to the Na-banna Building, the StateSecretariat. She was given aguard of honour by a con-tingent of Kolkata Police,

led by a woman officer.As with the distribution

of ticket, Ms. Banerjeemaintained status quo indistribution of berths in hercouncil of Ministers.

She has retained theportfolios of Home, Infor-mation and Cultural Af-fairs, Health, Minority Af-fairs and Land and LandReforms.

While heavyweights likeAmit Mitra and ParthaChatterjee retained the Fi-nance and Education, therewere no changes in theportfolios of Subrata Muk-herjee, Firhad Hakim, bothaccused in the Naradasting. Kolkata Mayor SovanChatterjee, also seen in thetapes, was given depart-ments of Housing and Envi-ronment.

Call for federal front atMamata swearing-in

KOLKATA: Within 24 hours of the Left-Congress alliance’sproclamation of occupyingthe anti “Didi [Mamata Ba-nerjee]-Modi [Narendra Mo-di]” space in Bengal politics,senior leader of the Bharati-ya Janata Party [BJP] Arun Jaitley said his party is set tooccupy the opposition spacein Bengal in the comingyears.

The Finance Minister, whois also the ParliamentaryBoard member of the BJP,

said that for the first time theparty had performed wellacross the State in an As-sembly election, while theLeft’s space was steadilyshrinking. Since the space of the Congress is “contract-ing” as well, it would be thesaffron party that is expectedto grow as the main Opposi-tion party. The Congresschallenged Mr. Jaitley’sviews.

Mr. Jaitley and junior Min-ister Babul Supriyo attendedthe swearing-in ceremony of the second Trinamool Con-gress [TMC] government onFriday on behalf of the BJP,while the State BJP boycot-ted the ceremony.

Releasing key poll result-related data at a press confer-ence here, Mr. Jaitley said theBJP was steadily replacingthe Left in Bengal. Mr. Jaitley

congratulated Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee for heremphatic victory.

BJP will occupy Left’s space inBengal: Jaitley

SUVOJIT B AGCHI



CMYK

ND-ND

CITY | 13THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

NEW DELHI: Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar said theindigenously developedLight Combat Aircraft (LCA)

Tejas would be the mainstayof the Indian Air Force andwould likely replace the en-tire MIG-21 fleet of almost250 fighters.

The Minister’s statementis significant given the re-cent noises emanating fromthe Ministry, hinting at thepossibility of another single-engine fighter being consid-ered to make up for theshortfall of fighters. In thepast, the IAF had been reluc-tant to fully back the domes-tic Tejas programme.

“LCA is mainstay. Therewill be seven squadrons of it.It is 3-4 times better than

MiG-21s,” he told The Hindu

on Thursday giving an over-view of the IAF modernisa-tion plans.

About 250 MiG-21s were inservice, most of which would

be phased out in the next 10-15 years, Mr. Parrikar said,adding that they would be“replaced by the LCA and an-other single-engine fighter.”

Asked if another single-engine fighter was underconsideration, he declined toconfirm.

“We may consider. I havenot said we are looking. To-morrow we may decide tohave everything from Tejas.The second version of Tejas,which is an improved ver-sion, is coming into produc-tion after the first two squad-rons,” he said.

Mirage and Jaguar up-

grade programmes were cur-rently under way which, Mr.Parrikar said, would add 10-30 years to their life.

“In five to six years, weshould start getting newdouble-engine fighters, notRafales only,” he stated.

The improved version of LCA referred to as Mk-1Awith four major improve-

ments over the Mk-1 varianthas been offered by Hindus-tan Aeronautics Limited(HAL) as an interim measurein view of the delay inLCA-MK2.

Mr. Parrikar said the thirdsquadron with 1A would be ahighly improved version,which was under trials.“Those special additives are

under trial like firing a BondVisual Range (BVR) missileetc,” he said.

‘LCA has limitations’

However, the LCA being asingle-engine, light-weightfighter, it has its limitations,which is why another twin-engine fighter would be

needed other than the Ra-fale, Mr. Parrikar stated.“Functionally, the LCA is

better than many other for-eign fighters. It reacts verysmoothly, fly-by-wire, itsturn radius is very good, ma-noeuvrability is very goodbut it has limitation in thesense that it is a light combat-ant… It cannot go into deeppenetration… It is mostlygood for dogfights in yourown sky or to degrade theopponent Army’s commandposts,” Mr. Parrikar observ-ed and added that “we needmore twin-engine fightersfor deep penetration.”

Majority of the 250 planes will bephased out in 15 years, says Parrikar

Tejas to replace MiG as key fighter

DINAKAR PERI

TAKING FLIGHT: The navy version of LCA Tejas on display duringDefexpo2016 at Goa. — FILE PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

NEW DELHI: Former Prime Min-ister P.V. Narasimha Rao hadproposed to confer BharatRatna on Netaji SubhasChandra Bose posthumous-ly, declassified files on Netajireleased on Friday have re-vealed. This is an indicationthat the government at that

time had accepted the deathof the freedom fighter.In a letter dated October

10, 1991 to then President R.Venkataraman, Rao, whowas then Prime Minister,said: “It is proposed to conferthe highest civilian award,namely ‘Bharat Ratna’, post-humously on Shri SubhasChandra Bose, in recogni-tion of his public service of the highest order and his out-standing contribution to thefreedom struggle of ourcountry.”

He said the award could bepresented at a special inves-titure ceremony.

Birthday

In another letter, dated Ja-nuary 19, 1992, Rao suggestedto Venkataraman that the an-nouncement of the posthu-

mous awards to Netaji couldbe made on January 23,which also happens to be thefreedom fighter’s birthday.

However, when Rashtra-pati Bhavan issued a presscommuniqué dated January,22, 1992 regarding confer-ment of Bharat Ratna on Ne-taji posthumously, the free-dom fighter’s familydeclined to receive theaward on the ground that itmay be “interpreted as aslight to his memory,” ac-cording to an internal noteprepared for information to

the then Prime Minister.According to the note,

then Home minister had saidthat he had met the Presidentwho had said that there wasno provision for withdraw-ing the award.

In 2014, speculations wererife that Bharat Ratna may be

conferred on Netaji but a ma-jority of his family membersdisapproved of the idea andinstead demanded that themystery of his disappear-ance be solved first.

Culture Secretary N.K.Sinha on Friday released on-line a set of 25 declassifiedfiles relating to Netaji whichconsisted of five files fromthe Prime Minister’s Office(PMO), four files from theMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA), and 16 files from theMinistry of External Affairs(MEA) pertaining to the pe-riod 1968 to 2008.

On the occasion of the119th birth anniversary of Netaji on January 23 thisyear, Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi had released thefirst lot of 100 files relating tothe freedom fighter. — PTI

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

‘Narasimha Rao proposedBharat Ratna for Netaji’

SRINAGAR: Six militants and asoldier were killed in twogun battles in Kupwara andBaramulla districts of northKashmir on Friday. A housewhere the militants werehiding was blasted.

An Army spokesman saidhere that four infiltratorswere killed in Nowgan Sec-tor of Kupwara in an oper-ation launched on Thursday.“Terrorists were attemptingto infiltrate in the early hoursof Thursday. Four heavilyarmed terrorists were killed.Four AK-47 rifles and ammu-nition were found near thesite,” the spokesman said.

In the operation that last-ed 18 hours, one soldier wasalso killed. “Braving harsh

weather and a tough terrain,the Army foiled the infiltra-tion bid. However, one sol-dier was injured and died inthe Army’s Base Hospital,”the spokesman said.

Two militants of the Hiz-bul Mujahideen were killedin an operation launchedaround 6.30 a.m. on Friday inthe Khonchipora-Tangmargof Baramulla district.

Six militants, soldier killed

in two Kashmir gun battlesPEERZADA A SHIQ

REDUCED TO RUBBLE: Jawans search the debris of a house af teran encounter with militants in Baramulla on Friday. —PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress-headed Public AccountsCommittee of Parliamenthas decided to take up a 2013Comptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) on the Agus-taWestland VVIP chopperdeal, apart from several oth-er defence related issues.

This follows a demandmade by members of the BJP,supported by the TrinamoolCongress, and the Biju JanataDal to take up the report inthe first meeting of the PACon May 18. Vijay Goel of theBJP, supported by Bhratruha-ri Mahtab of the BJD, hadmade the demand in the lastmeeting. At that time, formerminister in the UPA govern-ment and chairman of thePAC K V Thomas had re-

mained non-committal.He had told the committee

that the C&AG report had nonew light to throw on factssince 2013, and that the previ-ous PAC under BJP’s Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi had de-cided not to take it up forwant of new facts.

BJP members had, howev-er, persisted, with the meet-ing getting heated and Con-gress members demandingthe taking up of Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi’s pet‘Make in India’ project for ex-amination. Sources said BJPmembers were keen to dis-cuss the chopper deal issueand were also in a mood toseek voting in the committeeif Congress members weredisinclined to take it up. Of the 15-member committee,eight are from the BJP.

Panel to take up CAG

report on copter dealSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj onFriday took up the issue of anattack on a 23-year-old Ni-gerian student in Hyderabadwith Telangana Chief Minis-ter K. Chandrasekhar Rao.Ms. Swaraj also sought an ur-gent report from the Telan-gana government on the at-tack which took place amidoutrage by African envoyshere over the killing of aCongolese youth last week.

Ghazeem, 23, sustainedhead injuries after a man inhis neighbourhood in Singa-dabasti locality in Banjara

Hills hit him with a rod fol-lowing a dispute over carparking on Wednesdaynight.

“I have spoken to Shri K.Chandrasekhar Rao Chief Minister Telangana regard-ing attack on a Nigerian stu-dent in Hyderabad,” Ms.Swaraj said in a tweet. “Hehas promised to take imme-diate and stringent actionagainst the culprits,” she saidin another tweet.

“I have also asked ShriAmar Sinha Secretary, ER [Economic Relations] of myMinistry to speak to Chief

Secretary Telangana andmonitor this,” Ms. Swarajtweeted.

‘It’s unfortunate’

Terming the killing of aCongolese national in thecapital unfortunate, Tourismand Culture Minister Ma-hesh Sharma, said that evenAfrican countries were notsafe. “India is a large countryand such incidents will giveit a bad name. It is an unfor-tunate incident. However,even Africa is not safe,” Mr.Sharma told IANS during aninterview. — Agencies

Attack on Nigerian student:Sushma seeks report from KCR



CMYK

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WORLD14 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

ANTALYA (TURKEY): Turkey onFriday accused the UnitedStates of hypocrisy after U.S.commandos in Syria werepictured supporting a majorground offensive led by aKurdish militia branded aterror group by Ankara.

Foreign Minister MevlutCavusoglu said it was“unacceptable” that U.S.troops had been seen inimages wearing insignia of the Kurdish People’s

Protection Units (YPG).Ankara regards the YPG as

a terror group, accusing it of carrying out attacks insideTurkey and being the Syrianbranch of the KurdistanWorkers' Party (PKK) whichhas fought an insurgency

against Turkey for more thanthree decades.— AFP

Turkey slams U.S. over support to Kurds

BERLIN: Public prosecutors in

Germany are investigating apublisher’s plans to print anew edition of Hitler’s MeinKampf without critical notes— a move that risksviolating laws againstspreading Nazi propaganda.

Leipzig-based publisherVerlag Der Schelm, or RoguePublishing, said on itswebsite it would reprint theunabridged 1943 version of Hitler’s polemical text thissummer.

The 70-year copyright on

the text, banned by the Alliesat the end of World War Two,expired at the end of 2015,opening the way for a criticaledition with explanatorysections and some 3,500annotations. — Reuters

Probe against Mein Kampf publisher

HIROSHIMA (JAPAN): Barack Oba-ma paid moving tribute tovictims of the first atomicbomb on Friday, offering acomforting embrace to atearful man who survivedthe devastating attack onHiroshima.

In a ceremony loaded withsymbolism, the first sittingU.S. President to visit thecity clasped hands with onesurvivor and hugged anotherafter speaking about the daythat marked one of the mostterrifying chapters of WorldWar-II.

“71 years ago, death fellfrom the sky and the worldwas changed,” Mr. Obamasaid of a bomb that “demon-strated that mankind pos-sessed the means to destroyitself”.

Mourning the dead

“Why did we come to thisplace, to Hiroshima? Wecome to ponder a terribleforce unleashed in the not-so-distant past. We come tomourn the dead,” he said.

As crows called throughthe hush of the Hiroshima

Peace Memorial Park, Mr.Obama offered a floralwreath at the cenotaph,pausing in momentary con-templation with his eyesclosed and his head lowered.

The site lies in the shadowof a domed building, whoseskeleton stands in silent test-ament to those whoperished.

Japanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe followed by of-fering his own wreath and abrief, silent bow.

After both men had spo-ken, Mr. Obamagreeted age-ing survivors, embracingShigeaki Mori (79), who ap-peared overcome withemotion.

“The President gesturedas if he was going to give me ahug, so we hugged,” Mr. Moritold reporters afterwards.

Mr. Obama also chattedwith a smiling Sunao Tsuboi(91), who had earlier said hewanted to tell the U.S. Presi-

dent how grateful he was forhis visit.

The trip comes more thanseven decades after the Eno-la Gay bomber dropped itsdeadly atomic payload,dubbed “Little Boy”, over thewestern Japanese city.

The bombing claimed thelives of 140,000 people.

As expected, Mr. Obamaoffered no apology for thebombings, having insistedthat he would not revisit de-cisions made by Truman atthe close of a brutal war.

As an eternal flame flick-ered behind him, however,he said leaders had an obliga-tion to “pursue a world with-out” nuclear weapons.

Shinzo Abe praised the“courage” of the visit, whichhe said offered hope for a nu-clear free future. — AFP

U.S. President’s visit laden with symbolisms, comforting gestures made to survivors

Obama offers tribute but no apology

CONSOLATION EMBRACE: President Barack Obama hugs atomic bombing survivor Shigeaki Mori during his visit to the HiroshimaPeace Memorial Park on Friday; (inset) a protester holding a sign as Obama’s motorcade leaves the park. — PHOTO: REUTERS, NYT

COLOMBO: The option of build-ing 65,000 pre-fabricatedsteel houses for conflict-af-fected people in the North-ern and Eastern Provinces

has been termed by a panelof experts as a “fair solution”.The panel, drawn from the

Department of Civil Engi-neering at the University of Peradeniya, studied twomodel houses in Jaffna be-fore arriving at its conclu-sion.

Apart from pointing outthat housing is an “urgentneed” for those who weredisplaced due to the civilwar, it cited limited availabil-ity of construction materialsto support its finding.

Controversy over project

The housing project hasbecome controversial for anumber of reasons. Sectionsof the Tamil National Alli-ance (TNA), Janatha Vimuk-thi Peramuna (JVP) and civilsociety activists have beenopposing it on the grounds of

cost, unsuitability, and lackof consultat ion withstakeholders.

Though the governmentchose ArcelorMittal Con-struction as the executingagency, it also decided a cou-ple of weeks ago that Presi-dent Maithripala Sirisenaand Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe would takea close look at merits and de-merits of the project beforeproceeding further.

In the meantime, the Min-istry of Rehabilitation, Re-settlement approached theUniversity to conduct an“academia-driven independ-ent assessment” on theproject.

The panel, which submit-ted its report early thismonth, suggested improve-ments in the existing designof the proposed houses.

The government has alsomade public a reply of the ex-ecuting agency dated May 10.

Sri Lanka panelgives approvalfor pre-fabricatedsteel houses T. R AMAKRISHNAN

WASHINGTON:Consolidating hisviews on climate change thatseek to overturn the existing

U.S. policies, presumptiveRepublican presidentialnominee Donald Trump haspromised to increase oil andgas production and to incen-tivise fracking, while ridicul-ing renewable energy tech-nologies.

“We’re going to cancel theParis climate agreement,”Mr. Trump said about thepact, said to be the last hopefor limiting global warmingto below 2 degree Celsiusmore than the pre-industriallevels. This is the first timethat he has promised to scrapthe deal altogether.Throughout his campaignseason, he has been statingthat he would “at minimumrenegotiate” the Paris deal.

Republicans and conser-vatives have been increas-ingly sceptical of the scienceof climate change, while

Democrats and liberals areconvinced of the phenom-enon and that human inter-ventions caused it. Mr.Trump’s combative positionwill help him consolidate theRepublican base that is oth-erwise doubtful of his reli-gious and socialconservatism.

Advantage Hillary?

For Hillary Clinton, Mr.Trump’s position could turnout to be advantageous. HerDemocratic challenger Ber-nie Sanders — who, inciden-tally, is closing in on her inthe biggest primary battle of California on June 7 — is astrong advocate for mea-sures against fossil fuels. Heeven accuses Ms. Clinton of being hand-in-glove with thefossil fuel industry.

While there is conver-gence between Mr. Trumpand Mr. Sanders on a range of popular issues, climate

change is one topic that plac-es them miles apart. The fearthat those mobilised and en-ergised by Mr. Sanders in theDemocratic primary con-

tests could either go dor-mant or switch over to Mr.Trump’s side in the generalelection continues to hauntthe Clinton campaign, butthe Republican nominee’sunambiguous denial of cli-mate change could scare theSanders supporters away,and help Ms. Clinton.

Jobs and wages are the pri-mary issues likely to deter-mine the polls this year andboth Mr. Trump and Ms.Clinton articulate their re-spective positions withinthat framework. Mr. Trumphas said that a regulation orrule should be tested by thesingle question of whetheror not it is “good for theAmerican worker”. He hastargeted Ms. Clinton, who, ina slip, had promised to put“coal miners out of busi-ness”, while speaking about

climate mitigating policies.He holds that climate pri-orities are damaging theAmerican economy and itsworkers. Ms. Clinton on theother hand, has been tryingto project the challengesposed by climate change as abig opportunity to createjobs in clean technologies.

When it comes to the In-dia-U.S. bilateral ties, com-bating climate change hasbeen repeatedly cited as akey area of cooperation. Oneof the main arguments in fa-vour of the civil nuclear dealwas that it will reduce car-bon emissions in a fast grow-ing economy. Cooperation inclear energy is on the top of the agenda for Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi’s visit toWashington on June 7 and 8.A future U.S. President up-ending the entire premise of the country’s climate policycould have some impact onits ties with India.

Trump promisesto cancel Parisclimate agreement V ARGHESE K. GEORGE

BEIJING: China said on Friday thatJapan’s World War-II violence ismore worthy of remembrancethan the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, ahead of a historicvisit by U.S. President BarackObama. Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi said that the massacreof civilians by Japanese troops inthe city of Nanjing deservedgreater reflection.

“Hiroshima is worthy of attention. But even more soNanjing should not be forgotten,”the ministry’s website cited himas saying. “Victims deservesympathy, but perpetratorsshould never shirk theirresponsibility,” he told a huddle of reporters, state broadcaster

CCTV showed.China says 300,000 people

died in a six-week spree of killing,rape and destruction after theJapanese military entered Nanjingin 1937, although some respectedacademics put the number lower.Historian Jonathan Spence, forexample, estimates that 42,000soldiers and citizens were killedand 20,000 women raped.

The state-run China Daily declared in an editorial onThursday that the “atomicbombings of Japan were of itsown making”. It accused present-day Japanese officials of “tryingto portray Japan as the victim of World War II rather than one of itsmajor perpetrators”. — AFP

‘Nanjing more worthy of remembrance than Hiroshima’

SEOUL: Nuclear-armed NorthKorea has ridiculed U.S.President Barack Obama's visitto Hiroshima as the “childish”diplomatic ploy of a “nuclearwar fanatic”.

In a commentary releasedlate Thursday, the North’sofficial KCNA news agency saidMr. Obama's visit was an act of stunning hypocrisy. “It is achildish political calculation,”the agency said. “Even if Obamavisits the damaged city, hecannot hide his identity as anuclear war fanatic and nuclearweapons proliferator,” it added.

The KCNA commentary alsoquestioned Tokyo’s motives inorganising the visit. — AFP

A childishgesture: N. Korea

LONDON: A steady flow of mis-information has vitiated thedebate over whether Britainshould stay or leave the Eu-ropean Union (EU), thus

hindering rather than help-ing the voter in making an in-formed choice in the ‘In-Out’referendum on June 23.

A report released on Fri-day by a cross-party Treasu-ry Select Committee, set upto assess the economic andfinancial costs and benefitsof the country’s EU member-ship, has tried to penetratethe dense thicket of exagger-ation and misinformationthat surrounds the debate.

“The public debate is be-ing poorly served by incon-sistent, unqualified and, insome cases, misleadingclaims and counter-claims.Members of both the ‘leave’and ‘remain’ camps are mak-ing such claims,” the cross-party group states in itsreport.

For example, it says thatthe claim by Lord Rose,

Chairman of the ‘Stronger In’campaign that householdswill benefit by £3,000 per

year from EU membership“does not make sense”with-out describing the alternatearrangement under whichthose benefits would be lost.

Not meaningful

Similarly, it describes as “notmeaningful” the claim by Bo-ris Johnson of the ‘VoteLeave’ campaign, that EUmembership raises food billsfor British families by £400per year owing to the Com-

mon Agricultural Policy(CAP) — without indicatinghow U.K. agriculture would

be supported after Brexit.The Committee however

reserves its sharpest rebukefor the two magic figureshelp up by the two sides tosustain their core economicarguments. ‘Vote Leave’ rou-tinely cites the figure of £350million that the U.K. pays in-to the EU’s coffers per weekas a contribution. The Com-mittee has called this “highlymisleading”. First, it says thefigure does not account for

the budget rebate of £85 mil-lion a week. Second the U.K.receives EU funding of £88

million per week to the pub-lic sector and £79 million tothe private and non-govern-mental sector per week. The‘Leave’ side has promised toprotect these financial allo-cations, which would leavethe government a much low-er sum to fund schools andhospitals.

‘Stronger In’, on the otherhand, flaunts the magic fig-ure of £11 billion in its argu-ments. It claims that the costof imports into the U.K.could rise by at least £11 bil-lion as a result of Brexit. Thereport point outthat this fig-ure is based on the assump-tion that the U.K. will placethe same tariffs on imports asdoes the EU currently.

“Given that the pursuit of an independent trade policyis at the heart of the case for

leaving, this seems to be animplausible assumption,”states the report.

‘Misinformation distorting public debate’P ARVATHIMENON

STAY IN EU: Labour leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband withsupporters in Doncaster on Thursday.— PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Members of bothcamps are makingmisleading andunqualified claims,says a report

ATHENS: Russian PresidentVladimir Putin was inGreece on Friday in a visitaimed at reinforcing a rela-tionship with one of his fewfriends in the EuropeanUnion (EU) amid tensionswith the West.

The visit, Mr. Putin’s firstto the EU since December,comes at a low ebb in rela-tions between Russia andEurope over the conflict inUkraine that broke out in2014, with sanctions still inforce against Moscow.

It also comes as Athensdesperately seeks to comeout of recession. Greek offi-cials say increased trade withRussia could play a part in re-covery efforts.

Divergence on sanctions

EU leaders are to discussnext month whether to re-new sanctions on Russia’sbanking, defence and energy

sectors that expire in July.While the sanctions are

likely to be extended, Ger-man Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said re-sistance is growing withinthe EU to extending them,and a unanimous vote isrequired.

Italy and Hungary havebeen among the most scepti-cal while Poland and the Bal-tic states have repeatedlypressed for maintainingpressure on Moscow.

Mr. Steinmeier on Fridayfloated the possibility of a“step by step” reduction of sanctions but only if there isprogress on ending the con-flict in Ukraine.

G7 leaders in a statementwarned the policy would notchange until the conflict inUkraine ends.

Greek leader Alexis Tsi-pras, however, criticised thesanctions policy in an inter-view with Russian state newsagency RIA Novosti, sayingthe country had an inde-pendent foreign policy. Healso urged Europe to cooper-ate with Russia, and to moveaway from what he branded afutile cycle of sanctions andmilitarisation. — AFP

Putin visits Greece aheadof EU sanctions review

Vladimir Putin with GreekPrime Minister Alexis Tsiprasin Athens on Friday.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Two gang rapesof teenage girls includingone supposedly involving 30men that was filmed andposted online have shockedBrazil. The UN women’srights agency condemnedthe cases after the video wasposted on Twitter apparent-ly by one of the rapists whoboasted about the assault.

According to Brazilianmedia, the video posted onWednesday showed a girl of 16 surrounded by men whoclaimed she had been rapedby 30 of them in Rio de Janei-ro, which hosts the OlympicGames in August.

In another case, a group of at least five men allegedlydrugged and raped a 17-year-old girl in the northeasternstate of Piaui.

The posting of the videosparked a wave of revulsionamong Brazilians on socialmedia while Rio police saidthey were investigating thecase. — AFP

Gang-rape videoshocks Brazil

Fire brings down plane

MASS EVACUATION: Korean Air Lines on Friday evacuated 319 passengers from an aircraftpreparing to take off from Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, after its left engine caughtfire. Picture shows fire-fighters spraying foam at the engine. — PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON: Health experts onFriday urged the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)to consider whether the Riode Janeiro Olympics shouldbe postponed or moved be-cause of the Zika outbreak.

The 150 experts includinga former White House sci-ence adviser issued an openletter to the UN health agen-cy, calling for the games to bedelayed or relocated “in thename of public health”.

The authors noted that de-

spite increased efforts towipe out the mosquitoes thatspread Zika, cases in Riohave gone up rather thandown.

Several public health aca-demics have previouslywarned that having hun-dreds of thousands of peoplehead to the Aug. 5-21 gamesin Brazil will inevitablyspeed up the virus’s globalspread.— AP

Delay Olympicsor move it out of Rio, say experts

NEW DELHI: The nine-pointagreement, concluded be-tween Pushpa Kamal DahalPrachanda’s UCPN-Maoistand K.P. Sharma Oli’s CPN-UML, prevented a change in

government on May 4 thatMr. Prachanda nearly im-posed with the help of theopposition Nepali Congressleader Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Mr. Prachanda’s declara-tion of a change in govern-ment, at a press conferencein Chitwan district on Thurs-day, has been interpreted as asign of trust deficit betweenhim and Mr. Oli.

The Commission on En-forced Disappeared Persons(CEDP), which is investigat-ing Maoist and pro-monar-chist war crimes committedduring the decade-long civilwar, has gathered new mo-mentum under Mr. Oli’s ruletargeting the Maoists.

Bargaining manoeuvres

Former Prime Ministerand ex-Maoist ideologueBaburam Bhattarai says Mr.

Prachanda has begun a seriesof bargaining manoeuvreswith Prime Minister Oli and

Nepali Congress chief Deu-ba. The political future of Nepal in the next one monthwill be determined by whosecures Mr. Prachanda’s sup-port.

“The budget begins aphase of politics which willsee action from Mr. Prachan-da, Mr. Oli and Mr. Deuba.The political scenario is ex-pected to clear in the nextthree weeks as the budgetwill be cleared within thenext one month,” Mr. Bhatta-rai told The Hindu fromKathmandu.

Mr. Prachanda assertedhimself last week by unitingthe UCPN (Maoist) with thebreakaway CPN (Maoist)along with other minorgroups to launch the CPN-Maoist-Centre making him-self more important in Ne-pal’s political process. How-

ever, he is yet to regain hisprevious might, says Mr.Bhattarai.

A sign of trust deficitSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Nepal’s future in

the next month willbe determinedby who securesPrachanda’s support



CMYK

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BUSINESS | 15THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

BRIEFLY

CHENNAI: Indian Overseas Bankposted a net loss of Rs. 936.19crore in the quarter endedMarch 31, 2016, as compared to

a net profit of Rs.35.50 crore inthe corresponding period of theprevious year, due to higherprovisions. Total incomedeclined to Rs.6,157.72 crorefrom Rs.6,704.03 crore. In theyear ended March 31, 2016, thebank posted a net loss of Rs.2,897.33 crore against a netloss of Rs.454.33 crore in thecorresponding period of theprevious year. Total income waslower at Rs.26,045.55 croreagainst Rs.26,076.93 crore.— P. Narasimhan

IOB posts net loss of Rs.936 crore

MUMBAI: Central Bank of Indiareported a loss of Rs.898 crorefor the quarter ended March 31,2016, as compared to a profit of Rs.174 crore during the same

period of the previous year dueto increase provisioning fornon-performing assets. Its grossnon-performing assets (NPAs)almost doubled to Rs.22,720.88crore as on March end whichwas 11.95 per cent of grossadvances as of March 2016,from 6.09 per cent year ago. Thebank has made a provisioning of Rs.2,286 crore for the fourthquarter. For the full year, itreported a consolidated loss of Rs.1,396.37 crore as comparedto a profit of Rs. 666.06 crore inthe previous fiscal.— Manojit Saha

Central Bank postsRs.898 crore loss

SENSEX

27-05-2016 26,654

26-05-2016 26.367 287

points

GOLD

27-05-2016 28,870

26-05-2016 29,225 355

₨/gms

RUPEE

27-05-2016 67.03

26-05-2016 67.17 0.14

₨/$

BRENT OIL

27-05-2016 49.11

26-05-2016 49.86 0.75

$/bbl

When the dust settles, I think we will havemaybe 8 or 10 very competitive banks

Jayant Sinha, MoS, Finance

Exchange RatesIndicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m on May 27

TT TT

C ur re nc ie s B uy in g S el li ng

U.S. Dollar 66.83 67.15

Euro 74.64 75.00

Pound S terling 97.87 98.34

Jap Yen (100 Uni ts) 60.95 61.25

Chinese Yuan 10.17 10.25Swiss Franc 67.43 67.76

S in ga po re D ol la r 4 8. 59 4 8. 83

A us tr al ia n Do ll ar 4 8. 20 4 8. 45

C an adia n D olla r 5 1. 27 5 1.53

Swedish Kroner 8.05 8.09

Danish Kroner 10.04 10.09

New Zealand Dol lar 44.99 45.23

Hongkong Dollar 8.60 8.65

M al ay si an Ri ng it t 1 6. 39 1 6. 49

Ku wa it i Di na r 22 0. 85 2 22.64

UAE Dirham 18.19 18.29

B ah ra in i D in ar 1 76 .0 6 1 79. 45

Qatari Riyal 18.39 18.43

Saudi Riyal 17.85 17.90

Omani Riyal 173.01 175.05

Source: Indian Bank

Bullion RatesMay 27 rates in rupees withprevious rates in brackets

Chennai

Bar Silver (1 kg) 39,365 (39 ,735)

Retail (1 g) 42.10 (42.50)

24 ct gold (10 g) 29,250 (29,520)

22 ct gol d ( 1 g ) 2 ,7 35 (2 ,760 )

Delhi

Silver 39,070 (39,600)

S ta nd ar d g ol d 2 8, 87 0 ( 29 ,2 25 )

Sovereign 23,000 (23,000)

NEW DELHI: Foreign Direct In-vestment (FDI) inflows in-to India increased by 29 percent to a record $40 billionduring in the financial yearended March.

If re-invested earnings($10 billion), other capital($4.4 billion) and equitycapital of unincorporatedbodies ($1 billion) are takeninto account along with $40billion worth equity in-flows, the total FDI flows inFY'16 is the highest-ever at

$55.4 billion.The FDI equity inflows

in March 2016 went up by16.5 per cent to $2.46 billion,according to data releasedby the Department of In-dustrial Policy and Promo-tion (DIPP).

Of the FDI inflows (equi-ty) in FY'16, services sector(including financial, bank-ing, insurance, non-finan-cial / business, outsourc-ing, R&D, courier,technology testing andanalysis) attracted maxi-mum investments of $6.88billion followed by comput-er hardware and software($5.90 billion), trading busi-ness ($3.84 billion) and au-tomobile industry ($2.52billion).

Maximum inflows (equi-ty) were from Singapore($13.69 billion), followed by

Mauritius ($8.35 billion),the US ($4.19 billion), theNetherlands ($2.64 billion)

and Japan ($2.61 billion).The previous highest FDIinflow was in FY12 whenthe country received $46.55billion, which was a 34 percent increase over $34.8 bil-lion it got in FY11.

However, India recordedits largest-ever percentage

increase in FDI when it re-ceived $22.8 billion in FY07,representing a 155 per centincrease over the $8.9 bil-lion in FY06.

This includes equity, re-invested earnings and othercapital.

Though the governmentplays an active role in in-vestment promotion, “theinvestment decisions of in-vestors are based on themacro-economic policyframework, investment cli-mate in the host country, in-vestment policies of thetrans-national corpora-tions and other commercialconsiderations,” commerce& industry minister Nirma-la Sitharaman had said ear-lier. She said to boost in-vestment environment andattract foreign investmentsthe government had

brought in FDI-related re-forms and liberalised sever-al major sectors.

FDI inflows rise 29 %SPECIALCORRESPONDENT

The previous highestFDI inflow was inFY12 when thecountry received$46.55 billion

NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki an-nounced the recall of over75,000 units of its recentlyunveiled Baleno and almost

2,000 units of its compact se-dan DZire to fix faulty airbagcomponent and fuel filter.

“Maruti Suzuki will proac-tively and voluntarily recall75,419 Baleno cars, both pet-rol and diesel, manufacturedbetween August 3, 2015 andMay 17, 2016 to upgrade theairbag controller software,”according to a companystatement.

The recall is likely to im-pact almost all the units of the Baleno sold by the com-pany since its introduction inOctober last. Airbags comeas a standard feature in thecar. Of the 75,419 units, 15,995Baleno diesel cars manufac-tured between August 3, 2015and March 22, 2016, will alsobe inspected and its faultyfuel filter replaced, the coun-try’s largest car maker said.

Exported unitsThe recall also includes17,231 units of the Balenowhich were exported.

Additionally, the companyalso announced the recall of 1,961 DZire diesel cars withAGS transmission for in-spection and replacement of a defective fuel filter.

Maruti Suzuki dealers willcontact the owners of the af-fected vehicles starting May31, the company said. Thesoftware upgrade and the re-placement of faulty fuel filterwill be done free of cost.

Last week, it had an-nounced a free service cam-paign for 20,427 units of its S-Cross model for a possiblereplacement of a faulty brakepart.

Even though India doesn’thave a law for recall of vehi-cles, auto industry bodySIAM started voluntary ve-hicle recalls for safety-relat-ed issues in July 2012

Maruti recalls77,000 carsSPECIALCORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: State Bank of India

(SBI) – the country’s largestlender – reported a 66 percent decline in net profit toRs.1,264 crore for the quarterended March 31 due to higherprovisioning for bad loans.

The bank added non- per-forming assets of Rs.25,382crore during the quarter.

Gross NPAs

The gross non-performingassets (NPAs) hit a recordhigh of Rs.98,173 crore at theend of March which was 6.5per cent of the gross advanc-es. Its net NPA rose 169 basispoints to 3.81 per cent inFY16. “Much of the stressthat happened on the bankbooks has been recognised.We have about Rs.31,000crore of loan under specialwatch,” Arundhati Bhatta-charya, Chairman, StateBank of India (SBI) said dur-

ing a post-earnings interac-tion with the media in Kolka-ta where the board typicallymeets to finalise the fourthquarter earnings.

“We also like to mentionthat we do have floating pro-visions to the extent of

Rs.3,300 crore which couldbe used for this special watchlist account if they slip. We

also have Rs.1,100 crore of counter cyclical buffer thathas not yet been taken be-cause Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has not allowed us (sofar in 2016) to use it,” Ms.Bhattacharya said.

Provision for bad loans in-

creased by 143 per cent toRs.12,139 crore during thequarter which prompted the

bank to use funds from coun-tercyclical buffer – for whichapproval was granted by RBIin 2015.

Fresh slippages

The bank has seen freshslippages of Rs.30,313 crore

while it wrote off Rs.3,208crore. The recovery and up-gradation was slightly over

Rs.1,700 crore. Loan extend-ed to the mid-corporate seg-ment contributed the mostto bad loans – which were17.12 per cent of advances fol-lowed by small and mediumenterprises and agriculturesector. The bank, however,maintained a healthy provi-sion coverage ratio of 60.69per cent.

“We have gone through ac-counts by account to try anddetermine the weaknessesand recognised all of themproactively as possible,” shesaid.

Merger issue

On the issue of merger of associate banks with itself,Ms. Bhattacharya said therewill no impact on capital orbad loans.

“We have sought permis-sion from Government of In-

dia to begin negotiations. Wehave tried to access what themerged entity will look like.

“There will be no big im-pact either on capital orNPAs. We are well posi-tioned to take the benefit of the merger,” she said.

The bank added non-performing assets of over Rs.25,000 crore in the quarter

SBI Q4 net falls 66 per centSPECIALCORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: The Centre is set to

regulate private employmentagencies by amending the

contract labour law of 1971,Union Labour SecretaryShankar Aggarwal told The

Hinduon Friday. He said theagencies won't be allowed totake money from candidatesfor jobs and hiring agencieswho “dupe workers' wouldsoon be weeded out.

Poor regulation

“Unfortunately till date,there has been no regulationfor private recruitment agen-cies. It’s time that this sectoris regulated. Recruitingworkers on contract will al-low flexibility in the labourmarket,” Mr. Aggarwal saidon the sidelines of WorldEmployment Conferencejointly organised by the la-bour ministry and CIETT, aninternational confederationof private employment agen-cies. He said the labour min-

istry would have to amendthe contract labour Act of 1970. According to him, somequarters have looked uponcontract workers as undesir-able due to the industrial un-rest in recent years, stem-ming from poor quality of jobs and the individuals be-ing vulnerable to false hopes.

The labour secretary list-ed out the principles for theproposed regulation forstaffing firms.

“First, they should notcharge any money to the can-didate. Second, the due dili-gence of workers such ascharacter verification, policeverification, and evaluationof capabilities should bedone by the staffing agency.This may be time consumingand expensive but is the needof the hour,” Mr. Aggarwalsaid.

He said there are severalstaffing agencies that dupepeople in the guise of getting

them employed after charg-ing them hefty amounts. “Wewant only reputed and quali-ty staffing agencies in thearena and all disreputedagencies should be elimina-ted.We will then be able tocreate meaningful and pur-poseful jobs in the country,”he said.

Move welcomed

“It is fortunate that theproposal to regulate staffingagencies will be a part of the

labour reforms. A national li-censing regime for staffingfirms will be critical to keepa check on ‘mom-and-pop’shops that exist in the formof contractors,” said Ritupar-na Chakraborty, senior vice-president, Teamlease Servic-es, a staffing company.

Trade unions are also in fa-vour of the regulation. “Thenumber of staffing agenciesis growing and is largely un-regulated and they misleadthe workers.

There is no official websiteto check the authenticityof aparticular agency. We needtransparency and tradeunions are willing to makethe regulation a success,”Bharatiya Mazdoor Sanghgeneral secretary VirjeshUpadhyay said.

At present, there are no of-ficial estimates on the num-ber of private staffing agen-cies that are operating in thecountry.

SOMESH JHA

Shankar Aggarwal

Norms soon to weed outfraud in staffing industry

MUMBAI: The 148-year-old Ta-ta Group has made a foray in-to the Indian ecommercemarket through TataCLiQ-.com.

The venture will sell appa-rel, electronics and footwearamong other products. “Cur-rently, there are only 30 mil-lion regular online shoppersin India and there is im-mense potential to bring thenext 100 million with an of-fering that builds from theircurrent path to purchaserather than expecting themto change behaviour,” Ashu-tosh Pandey of Tata Uni-store, which runs Tata Cliq,said.

The group said it devel-oped the Tata Cliq websiteover a year-and-a-half at acost of “several hundred mil-lion dollars”. The site wouldact as a marketplace for itsin-house and partner compa-nies. The venture marks anew direction for the salt-to-steel conglomerate whichhas so far focused on physi-cal retail stores.

Customers can order on-line at TataCLiQ and get the

items home-delivered orpick them up at designatedstores, a model the companytermed “phygital,” a combi-nation of physical and digi-tal. TataCLiQ.com serviceswill be available in the un-veiling phase in 6,856 pin-codes across 689 cities andtowns. It plans to scale up tomore than 2,000 stores from500 stores in the comingmonths.

‘Phygital’

“Phygital” play can be agame changer in e-com-merce, significantly enhanc-ing customer experiencewhile reducing logistics anddelivery costs for a long-term, profitable business,

said K.R.S. Jamwal, Execu-tive Director, TataIndustries.

The Tata Group said its fo-cus was on profit margins.“We don’t want to get intodiscount wars; we want toserve customers with greatproducts and build a sustain-able business,” said Mr. Pan-dey.

Start-ups Flipkart, Snap-deal and U.S.-based Amazonare battling it out for marketshare in the country. E-com-merce giant Alibaba is look-ing to enter the India market.By 2025, online merchandisesales will hit $220 billion inIndia from $11 billion lastyear, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Tata Group enters e-commerce marketSPECIALCORRESPONDENT By 2025, online

merchandise saleswill hit $220 billionin India from$11 billion last year

MUMBAI: Morgan Stanley Mu-tual Fund Trust, an investorin Flipkart Ltd., has markeddown the value of its stake inthe online retailer by 15.5 percent for the second straightquarter in a row.

The fund marked downthe value of Flipkart sharesto $87.9 apiece as of March2016 from $103.97 per shareas of December last year.

In the December quarter,the fund house had markeddown the value by 38.2 percent from $142.24 per sharein June 2015, according to astock exchange filing.

The mark down means

that Flipkart valuation isdown to $9.39 billion from$15 billion it was valued dur-ing its last fund rounding in June last year.

‘Difficult environment’

A slew of foreign fundshave marked down value of Flipkart in recent monthsalong with other Silicon Val-ley firms, indicating a diffi-cult operating environmentglobally. In May, two smallmutual fund investors inFlipkart marked down thecompany’s valuation InApril, T Rowe Price dis-closed in a filing that it cutthe value of its stake in Flip-kart by 15 per cent.

S ANJAY V IJAYAKUMAR

Morgan Stanley marks downFlipkart’s value once again

LONDON: Gold steadied off aneight-week low, but re-mained on track for a fourthstraight weekly drop asgrowing speculation that theFederal Reserve will pressahead with interest ratehikes hurt investor demand.

The metal fell for sevenstraight sessions to Thurs-day, its longest run of lossesin more than six months.

The drop came after min-utes of the Fed’s latest policy

meeting indicated last weekthat a rate rise may be on thecards sooner rather thanlater. — Reuters

Yellow metal

heads for fourth

weekly drop

BENGALURU: Canara Bank re-ported a net loss of Rs.3,905.49 crore for thefourth quarter ended March31, 2016, against a net profit of Rs.613 crore in the corre-sponding period of the previ-ous year due to a six-fold in-crease in provisions for badloans.

Total income declined bytwo per cent to Rs.12,116.14crore from Rs.12,429.21 crore.

The bank made a provisionof Rs.6,331.54 crore as againstRs.1,009.57 crore. For the fullfiscal, the bank registered anet loss of Rs.2,607.01 crore

against a profit of Rs.2,864.66 crore last year.

Total income was flat atRs.49,170.75 againstRs.48,546.82 crore. Grossnon-performing asset (NPA)ratio for the January-Marchwas at 9.4 per cent while thenet NPA ratio stood at 6.42per cent. The capital adequa-cy ratio as per Basel-IIInorms improved to 11.08 percent. During the year CanaraBank raised Rs.4,867 crorecapital including Rs.2,467

crore equity capital andRs.2,400 crore Tier-II capi-tal.

As per the guidance of thebanking regulator RBI, mostof the public sector lendershad made higher provisionswhich impacted their bot-tom-line. Earlier this monthanother public sector lenderPunjab National Bank (PNB)reported a net loss of Rs5,367.14 crore for the fourthquarter which is the highestloss in the banking sector.

PRADEESHCHANDRAN

Canara Bank posts loss of Rs.3,905 crore

Feb 29, 16 May 27, 16

Canara Ban

154

167

180

193

206

219

Rs.192.90



CMYK

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BUSINESS16 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

SNIPPETS

CHENNAI: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) posted a net profit of Rs.10,399.03crore for 2015-16 against Rs.5,273.03 crore in the corresponding periodof the previous year. Income from operations was Rs.3,50,603.09 croreagainst Rs.4,37,524.23 crore because of a decline in international oilprices. In the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016, income fromoperations was Rs.80,449.57 crore against Rs. 93,830.13 crore in thecorresponding quarter of 2014-15. The profit stood at Rs.1,235.64 croreagainst Rs.6,285.35 crore mainly due to lower gross refining margins.The board of directors recommended a final dividend of 85 per cent(Rs.8.50 per share). This is in addition to an interim dividend of 55 percent (Rs.5.50 per share) paid during the year. — P. Narasimhan

IOC’s net profit rises to Rs. 10,399 crore

WASHINGTON: Hackers who stole $81 million from Bangladesh's centralbank have been linked to an attack on a bank in the Philippines, inaddition to the 2014 hack on Sony Pictures, cybersecurity companySymantec Corp said in a blog post. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has blamed North Korea for the attack on Sony'sHollywood studio. A senior executive at Mandiant, the cybersecuritycompany investigating the Bank Bangladesh heist, also said t he hackershad recently penetrated banks in Southeast Asia. In the blog postpublished on Thursday, Symantec did not name the Philippines bank orsay whether any money was stolen, but said the attacks could be tracedback to October last. It did not identify the hackers. — Reuters

‘Bangladesh hackers attacked other Asian banks’

BENGALURU: Infosys has appointed Anantha Radhakrishnan as theManaging Director and Chief Executive Officer of its backoffice arm.Prior to this role, Mr Radhakrishnan was the Chief Operating Officer(COO) of Infosys BPO managing its global operations, according to thecompany’s website. The company also appointed Anup Uppadhayay, theincumbent CEO of Infosys BPO, as the Executive Vice President and theHead of Strategic Sales Programmes. He will work with Mohit Joshi whois responsible for sales operations and reporting processes, includinglarge deal pursuits and top account growth. — Staff Reporter

Anantha Radhakrishnan is new MD of Infosys BPO

Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. (MOFSL), a leading stock-broking firm in the country, ex-

panded its business activities tothe affordable housing financesegment last year. In an e-mail in-

terview, Motilal Oswal , Chair-man and Managing Director of the company explained the ratio-nale behind the move.

• What efforts has MOFSL made interms to realign its businesses?

Our goal is to generate sustainable20 per cent RoE (return on equity)and build strong competitive posi-tioning in each of the seven busi-nesses we operate i n. We have exe-cuted this through focus on fourkey pillars.

The first is the traditional capi-tal markets business which in-cludes Retail Broking, Institution-al Broking, Private WealthManagement and InvestmentBanking. Most of these businesseshave seen market cycles and havetime-tested robust business mod-els. We are strengthening our val-ue proposition in each of thesebusinesses to further consolidate

our market share in each of thesesegments.The second pillar is the invest-

ing businesses which includes As-set Management and Private Equi-ty. We have been able to build astrong positioning in this spaceand have seen growth of bothAUM (assets under management)and profitability. This is now ameaningful contributor to bothtop-line and profits of the group.

The third is the newly set upHousing Finance Business, AspireHome Finance, which focuses onthe affordable housing space. Un-der a strong leadership team withfocus on systems, processes andtechnology we have been able tobuild considerable scale in thisbusiness. The fourth and last pillar

is the fund-based business.

• The capital market business hasnow contributes to less than 50 percent of yourrevenues. Will this fallfurther?

Our revenue mix is already show-ing the impact of the transforma-tion in our business model. Assetmanagement and home loanscomprised around 20 per centeach in the firm’s revenuemix in FY2016 while theproportion of capitalmarket business wentbelow 50 per cent forthe first time since in-ception.

We expect the pro-portion of revenue fromcapital market-based busi-nesses to go down furtheras the asset manage-ment and housingfinance business-

es gaintraction.However,

we have alsoinvested in crit-ical front-endskills in our cap-ital market busi-nesses as we re-main highlyoptimistic aboutthat opportunity.

Any meaningful turnaround inmarket activity should impact itsproportion in the revenue mixcommensurately. Lastly, our spon-sor investments made in our mu-tual funds and private equity fundsare held at cost and gains are unre-alized. As and when gains arebooked, this segment will also

contribute in the revenue mix.Hence, it is difficult to give any fig-ure of how the revenue mix willmove but our investments intoeach of our business segmentsshould help drive revenues at anabsolute level. As it is, our revenuein FY16 was the all-time high of thelast 10 years as was our PAT.

• AMC and Aspire have both been themain growth drivers for the

group. What is your strategyfor the two?

The asset manage-ment business hasbrought in regular an-nuity-based revenuewhile the home fi-nance business has

brought in stable reve-nue flows. These two

have helped coun-ter the in-

herent

cycli-calityof

the capital market businesses.In asset management, we are

seeing good business traction withlarge distributors.

In the home finance business,the opportunity to deepen the mo-bilisation from our existingbranches in Gujarat, Maharashtraand Madhya Pradesh remains

significant.Apart from these, we will also

launch more new branches inthese states as well as adjoiningstates like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarhand Karnataka in the comingmonths. Apart from scale, our fo-cus will remain on maintaining op-erational processes, underwritingquality, risk management and banklines for fund flows since these arealso critical drivers for success inthis business.

• Does competition from discountbrokers, who offer flat broking fees,serve as a fundamental disruption toretail broking?

There are three models within thebroking business, each focusingon distinct client segments and of-fering a distinct value-proposi-tion. One is the discount brokingmodel where there is no advice orrelationship manager. They focus

on high-frequency, self-directedtraders who want an executionplatform.

Another is the supermarketmodel which gives online re-sources, product-choice and en-

ables handholding of new cli-ents. These are mostly thebank-backed brokers who tar-get new-to-market customers.

The third model is of a per-sonal relationship manager

with strong research and advisingcapabilities. This caters to clientswho value the advice and the per-sonalised service. We would fall inthis segment. We have not seenany kind of pricing threat in oursegment specifically. Rather, thepricing threats might be more inthe self-directed discount seg-

ment since the scope of differen-tiation is very limited there.

We have seen these trends in themarket for some time now, and it isnothing new. Now, with our addedfocus on the distribution of finan-cial products, our relationshipwith the customers should getstrengthened even further.

• What is your view on the Indianequity markets?

In the long-term I am quite bullish.There is no asset class other thanequity which has given such re-turns in the past on a long termsustainable basis. In the short-term, the fourth quarter earningsseason has been good so far.

Going forward, arrival of themonsoon and legislative action onreforms will be important factorsto watch out for. Buy the rightstocks and just sit tight.

•What is a sustainable growth ratefor Aspire?

The underlying opportunity poolin the affordable housing segmentis huge and largely untapped. Thissegment has also come in focus of government initiatives. As such,we expect healthy growth rates inline with market estimates. Whatis more important is to focus onthe operational processes.

INTERVIEW MOTILAL OSWAL

OOMMEN A. NINAN

Our aim is to generate sustainable 20% RoE

BENGALURU: Wipro’s newly-ap-pointed Chief Executive Of-ficer, Abidali Neemuchwala,has received $1.8 million ascompensation for the FY 16.

Mr. Neemuchwala whotook over as the CEO in Feb-ruary was serving as theChief Operating Officer of the company since April 2015and the compensation in-cludes salary drawn as COO.

Rivals’ pay

Wipro CEO’s salary is less-er than the rival salary Info-sys paid to its current CEOVishal Sikka. Mr Sikka got a

salary of $7.4 million (aboutRs 49 crore) last year and theboard has approved a revisedsalary package of $11 million.

India’s leading IT servicesprovider TCS paid its Chief Executive N. Chandraseka-ran annual salary of $3.8 mil-lion (around Rs 25.6 crore)

According to a filing to theSecurities Exchange Com-mission, Wipro CEO’s salary

package included salary andallowances of $859,079, vari-able pay of $351,213 othercomponents of $575,122 andlong-term compensation of $21, 216.

T.K. Kurien who is the cur-rent executive vice-chair-man and former CEO re-ceived $2.1 million as salary.Other executives like Chief Strategic Officer RishadPremji received $325,462 assalary for the period be-tween April 2015 and March2016.

The company’s billionairechairman Azim Premji, tookhome an annual salary pack-age of $327,993.

Wipro CEO got $1.8 millionas salary in last fiscal yearS TAFFR EPORTER

Neemuchwala’s salaryis lesser than the payits rival Infosys paidto its currentCEO Vishal Sikka

SOUTH CAROLINA:Governor Nik-ki Haley is betting big on In-dia as she is aggressivelywooing companies and tal-ent from the South Asian na-tion to set up businesses inthe United States of America.

“India is an untappedeconomy. We welcome asmany companies that wantto come here. We were pleas-antly surprised so manywanted to come to America,”said Ms. Haley, the first fe-male governor of South Car-olina and currently theyoungest governor in theUnited States.

“Our idea of success is notput the shovel on the groundor cut the first ribbon. Ouridea of success is when acompany expands,” said Ms.Haley, whose team is making

several visits to India toscout for Indian companies.

Ms. Haley, who was toutedas a potential Republicanvice-presidential nominee,said she was looking forwardto Indian Prime Minister Na-rendra Modi’s visit to theUnited States in June whenhe would address a joint sit-ting of the U.S Congress. Shesaid Mr. Modi had the re-

sponsibility to sell India andcreate business relationshipwith other countries.

“More importantly it is notfor him to just come here andsay that he (Mr. Modi) is anally. But lot of people want toknow what he is doing tospur business between thetwo countries,” said Ms. Ha-ley. “I hope he would talk asmuch about what he is doing

in India as what he could doto do better trade deals withus,” she said. Ms. Haley saidwhen a company sets upbusiness in South Carolinaand creates jobs, her teammakes sure to hand hold thecompany and provide infras-tructure and tax credits.

Indian firms

Her state South Carolina,which is in the south-easternregion of the U.S., has attract-ed six Indian-based compa-nies to set up their business.These include engineeringservices firm QuEST GlobalServices NA, business proc-ess outsourcing services or-ganisation WNS Limited andwarehousing and storagecompany HimatsingkaAmerica.

(The writer is in the Unit-ed States at the invitation of the U.S Government)

India is an untapped economy: Nikki Haley PEERZADA A BRAR

Our idea of success isnot put the shovel onthe ground or cut thefirst ribbon. Our ideaof success is when acompany expands

Nikki Haley,Governor, South Carolina

WASHINGTON: Eight automakerssaid on Friday they are re-calling more than 12 millionU.S. vehicles for defectiveTakata air bags, expandingthe largest-ever auto safetypush, documents posted byU.S. regulators showed.

Honda Motor Co. is recall-ing 4.5 million U.S. vehicleswhile Fiat Chrysler Automo-biles NV is recalling 4.3 mil-lion, according to the docu-ments. The new recall isfocused on passenger-sideair bag inflators, while priorrecalls were for driver-sideinflators.—Reuters

Automakersrecall 12 millionU.S. vehicles over Takata air bags

BENGALURU: Tech Mahindra will acquire U.K. headquartered TargetGroup to strengthen its presence in the banking and financial services(BFSI) segment in the European IT services market, according to a topofficial. Tech Mahindra has agreed to purchase 100 per cent of theshares of Target Group. It will remain a standalone entity retaining itsexisting brand and the entire management team at Target will stay andhave full operational responsibility. Target Group employs about 740people and had revenues of £51 million in 2015. The transaction isexpected to close in the second quarter of the current fiscal subject toregulatory approvals. — Staff Reporter

Tech Mahindra to acquire U.K.-based Target Group



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NOIDA/DELHI

BENGALURU: In his three previ-ous seasons of IPL cricket, K.L.Rahul had never scored morethan 45 in an innings or aggre-

gated more than 166 runs overa full campaign. This year, hehas four half-centuries to hisname, and is Royal Challen-gers Bangalore’s third-highestscorer with a tally of 386 runs.

And Rahul will go into Sun-day’s final here having struckmore sixes (16) this seasonthan Chris Gayle (13). If thereexisted a perception that hewas unsuited to limited-overscricket, the 24-year-old hasshattered it.

“You should tell me [if theperception of my batting haschanged],” he laughed, speak-ing here on Friday. “For methere was never a doubt about

the skill. But obviously, Ihadn’t put in the same kind of performances in the previousyears. I got the opportunitythis year; I was prepared andready.”

What had he done different-ly this time, Rahul was asked.“I played less [because of anelbow injury], that’s all,” hesaid. “During my time off, Icould sit back and watch a fewvideos to see what I’d been do-ing wrong.

“Mostly, it’s been a mentalchange. I’ve played with a lotof freedom. I’ve stuck to mygame and realised what worksbest for me and that is to playcricket shots. Maybe that hasbeen the biggest secret thisseason.”

While his batting, at variouspositions in the order, hasbeen fine, Rahul’s wicket-

keeping has been vital to thebalance of the RCB side. On In-dia’s tour of Sri Lanka, hestepped in for an injuredWriddhiman Saha midwaythrough the second Test, even

taking a great catch to dismissAngelo Mathews.

“I haven’t really thoughtabout [keeping long-term],”Rahul said. “I started my crick-et as a wicket-keeper, in the ju-nior format. I then took a breakfor a few years. I’ve always en-joyed wicket-keeping andwhenever the team has want-ed me to keep or somebodyhas got injured, I’ve done it.

“It opens up a different di-mension for me. It gives theteam the option of playing anextra batsman or bowler. I’llobviously have to work a lotharder on mywicket-keeping.”

Unsuited to the limited-oversgame? Say what, asks RahulPRINCIPALCORRESPONDENT

PARIS: Defending championStan Wawrinka eased into thefourth round at Roland Garroswith a drama-free 6-4, 6-3, 7-5win over Jeremy Chardy onFriday.

Also advancing was AndyMurray, who cut down Croa-

tian giantIvo Kar-lovic.Two-timeWimble-doncham-pion Pe-

tra Kvitova became the fourthtop-10 women’s seed to beknocked out.

Murray, a three-time semifi-nalist, had needed two five-setmatches and three days of playto get to the last 32.

But on Friday the 29-year-old needed just a shade undertwo hours to beat 6ft 11in(2.11m) Karlovic 6-1, 6-4,7-6(3).

It was Murray’s seventh win

in seven matches against the37-year-old.Meanwhile, Kei

Nishikori of Japan reached thelast 16 with a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6,6-4 win over Spain’s FernandoVerdasco.

The fifth seed will play Ri-chard Gasquet for a place inthe quarterfinals after theFrenchman defeated Austra-lian Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 7-6(7),

6-2.Canada’s eighth seed Milos

Raonic overcame a left hip in-jury to defeat Slovakian luckyloser Andrej Martin, theWorld No. 133, and reach thelast-16 for a second time.

Raonic won 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-3but only after requiring a med-ical timeout at the start of thethird set to treat a hip injury.

Raonic, a quarterfinalist in2014, next faces 55th-ranked

Albert Ramos-Vinolas afterthe Spaniard stunned Ameri-can 23rd seed Jack Sock 6-7(2),6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Ramos-Vinolas, 28, had notwon a match at Roland Garrossince 2011 before this year.

Wickmayer falls

Spanish fourth seed and lastyear’s Wimbledon runner-upGarbine Muguruza won thelast nine games to knock outBelgium’s Yanina Wickmayer6-3, 6-0.

Romanian sixth seed Simo-na Halep, the runner-up to Ma-ria Sharapova in 2014, neededthree sets to see off 18-year-old

Japanese player Naomi Osaka4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Czech 10th seed Kvitova be-came the fourth top 10 seed toexit by the third round aftershe lost 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-0 toAmerican World No. 108 Shel-by Rogers.

Kvitova, a semifinalist in2012, committed 36 unforcederrors as 23-year-old Rogers

reached the last-16 of a GrandSlam for the first time. — AFP

Wawrinka, Murray through; Kvitova out

HERE I COME: Shelby Rogers looks mighty pleased afterdefeating 10th seed Petra Kvitova in a women’s third-roundmatch at Roland Garros on Friday. —PHOTO: AFP

Men: Third round: 9-RichardGasquet (Fra) bt 17-Nick Kyrgios(Aus) 6-2, 7-6(7), 6-2; 3-Stan Waw-rinka (Sui) bt 30-Jeremy Chardy (Fra)6-4, 6-3, 7-5; 2-Andy Murray (GBr) bt27-Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(3);22-Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt 16-Gilles Si-mon (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; 8-MilosRaonic (Can) bt Andrej Martin (Svk)7-6(4), 6-2, 6-3.

5-Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt FernandoVerdasco (Esp) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6,6-4; 15-John Isner (USA) bt TeymurazGabashvili (Rus) 7-6(7), 4-6, 2-6, 6-4,6-2; Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Esp) bt23-Jack Sock (USA) 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4,4-6, 6-4.

Doubles: Second round: 6-Ro-han Bopanna (Ind) & Florin Mergea(Rou) bt Gregoire Barrere & QuentinHalys (Fra) 6-3, 6-4; 16-Marcin Mat-kowski (Pol) & Leander Paes (Ind) bt

Julian Knowle (Aut) & Florian Mayer(Ger) 6-4, 6-3.

Women: Third round: 4-GarbineMuguruza (Esp) bt Yanina Wickmay-er (Bel) 6-3, 6-0; 21-Samantha Stosur(Aus) bt 11-Lucie Safarova (Cze) 6-3,6-7(0), 7-5; 6-Simona Halep (Rou) btNaomi Osaka (Jpn) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

2-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt30-Barbora Strycova (Cze) 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2; Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) bt19-Sloane Stephens (USA) 6-2, 6-1;25-Irina-Camelia Begu (Rou) bt Anni-ka Beck (Ger) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1; ShelbyRogers (USA) bt 10-Petra Kvitova(Cze) 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-0; 13-SvetlanaKuznetsova (Rus) bt 24-AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova (Rus) 6-1, 6-4.

Second round: 26-Kristina Mla-denovic (Fra) bt Timea Babos (Hun)6-4, 6-3; Monica Puig (Pur) bt JuliaGoerges (Ger) 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-5.

Doubles: Second round: 1-Mar-tina Hingis (Sui) & Sania Mirza (Ind)

bt Nao Hibino Eri Hozumi (Jpn) 6-2,6-0.

IMPORTANT RESULTS

PARIS: Nine-time championRafael Nadal withdrewfrom the French Openwith a left wrist injury onFriday, but insisted thatthe setback did not meanthe end of his career.

“It’s not broken, but if Icontinue to play it will bebroken in a few days,” saidan emotional Nadal, thefourth seed.

“This is a very badposition, but that’s life. If this was not RolandGarros I probably wouldnot have taken the risk of playing in the first coupleof days.”

“This is a tough moment

and the toughest press

Rafael Nadal.—PHOTO: AP

Injured Nadal pulls out

conference I have ever had togive, but it’s not the end ,” the

Spaniard said. — AFP

England — 1st innings: A. CookcKarunaratne b Lakmal 15, A. Hales cMathews b Siriwardana 83, N. Comp-ton c Lakmal b Pradeep 9, J. Root cSilva b Pradeep 80, J. Vince c Thiri-manne b Siriwardana 35, J. Bairstowc Chandimal b Pradeep 48, M. Ali(batting) 28, C. Woakes (batting) 8;Extras (b-1, lb-3): 4; Total (for sixwickets in 90 overs): 310

Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-64, 3-160,4-219, 5-227, 6-297.

Sri Lanka bowling: Eranga 19-2-67-0, Lakmal 18-3-58-1, Pradeep 19-3-69-3, Herath 24-1-74-0, Mathews

2-1-3-0, Siriwardana 8-0-35-2.Toss: England.

SCOREBOARD

BENGALURU: Royal ChallengersBangalore has ridden a tidalwave of support at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium — A.B.de Villiers on Tuesday said itwas the loudest crowd he’d ev-er played before — on its wayto the IPL final. To RCB’s Kar-nataka contingent, the trio of S. Arvind, Stuart Binny andK.L. Rahul, fixtures at this ven-ue are ‘home’ matches in moreways than one.

“We’ve grown up playingcricket here,” Rahul said hereon Friday. “There’s nothingmore satisfying than to playfor your home team. It’s myfirst IPL final and it happens tobe at home.”

Binny admitted that being ina final here was a special feel-ing. “When I was bought in theauction, I jumped out of mychair because I always wantedto play for RCB. Bengaluru ishome to me. It’s something

that struck me during the firstmatch here. When I walkedout to play, I had a lot of pr ide,”he said.

Arvind added: “This is myfifth year for RCB. As a localguy, I’m proud to be here.”

RCB’s turnaround has beenremarkable, from winning twoof the first seven matches tosweeping seven of the nexteight. “It was simple,” said Bin-ny. “We knew exactly where

we were and what we had todo. Talk was not going to beenough. Virat [Kohli] wasclear with how he wanted us toplay: go out and express our-selves. We got our strategiesand combinations right, andwe did it.”

Thereafter, confidenceamong the players grew expo-nentially with each win, Rahulstated. “Once you start win-ning, you stop thinking: ‘Whatif we do this wrong?’ or ‘What

if we don’t click?’ There is nev-er a doubt in our minds. Evenright now, in our heads wehave already won the tourna-ment. It’s just about goingthere and putting our plans in-to place on Sunday,” he said.

The 24-year-old drew paral-lels between RCB’s barn-storming run and Karnataka’srecent successive Ranji Tro-phy victories. “In any format,peaking at the right time is im-

portant,” he said. “We experi-enced that when we won theRanji Trophy two years in arow (2013-14 and 2014-15).

“The first time, we had a badstart to the season; the firstthree games didn’t go our wayand then we bounced back andcarried that momentumthrough. Something like thathas happened here too. Whenyou’re nowhere and you endup in the top two, it brings theteam together.”

There was the expectation,Binny admitted, of deliveringRCB its first IPL title in nineyears of trying. “I wouldn’t callit pressure, but, yes, everyonewants to win,” he said. “Wehave the upper hand playing athome, for sure.

“We know the conditions;we know exactly what needsto be done. There’s no pres-sure; there’s just goodconfidence.”

‘Home’ in more ways than one

THAT SPECIAL FEELING: Having learnt the ropes as buddingcricketers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, S. Arvind, K.L. Rahuland Stuart Binny will be all keyed up.—PHOTO: G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR

SHREEDUTTA CHIDANANDA

NEW DELHI: Sunrisers Hydera-bad found a finisher in BipulSharma, known better for hisspin skills. The left-handermatched his left-handed Aus-tralian partner, David Warner,and eliminated Gujarat Lionsfrom the Indian PremierLeague with a stunning four-wicket victory at the Fero-zeshah Kotla here on Friday.

Warner’s tactical handlingof the chase, pacing his innings

and marking his bowlers tomaul, snatched the matchaway from Lions which at onestage was sitting pretty withthe opposition at 75 for fourand then 117 for six. SunrisersHyderabad, eying a spot in thefinal, rallied around Warner,the lone bright spot as theteam fumbled through a darkalley. Warner’s 93 off 58 ballsand Sharma’s 27 from 11brought a fitting end to an in-tense match.

Shikhar Dhawan ran himself out, Moises Henriques droveto cover and Yuvraj Singh tolong off. Sunrisers stood rav-aged when Ben Cutting fell to a

catch at the wicket off ShivilKaushik in the bowler’s fourthover. Kaushik was later given aparting gift by Warner for sixNo. 610 of the tournament.

The stands filled up slowlyand Gujarat Lions took time tocome to terms with the occa-sion too. Eklavya Dwivedimade no impact and SureshRaina went cheaply. SunrisersHyderabad, having opted tofield, showed no signs of mis-sing Mustafizur Rahman, outof action due to a hamstring in-

jury. The pressure exerted onGujarat Lions told on the bat-smen, and the outbreak of inju-dicious shots only exposed thestate of their mind.

They swung wildly andblindly in an effort to establishearly domination but Lions didnot connect with much untilthe resurrection happenedthrough Aaron Finch, whotook the fight to the opposi-tion. He was on 13 when Barin-der Sran dropped a sitter atshort fine-leg off left-arm spin-ner Bipul Sharma as the bat-sman attempted a slog sweep.Finch gladly accepted the re-prieve and took off with some

muscular shots, especially onthe onside.

The innings prospered to astage where Lions could thinkof putting up a front for itsbowlers to defend. DwayneBravo gave the Lions’ innings alate surge as Sunrisers’ bowl-ing, known for its parsimonyin the death overs, suffered atthe hands of Finch and Bravoand conceded 53 runs in fiveovers. Sunrisers also faredpoorly in ground fielding with

Sran the main culprit.Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as

usual, commanded respectwhile Ben Cutting held hisown. Trent Boult, however,playing his first match of thetournament, was evidentlyrusty, going for 39 in fourovers. Cutting also was thecentral character in an aston-ishing act at deep midwicketwhen he acrobaticallypunched the ball back on to thefield to save a six even as he

took a tumble over theboundary.

Left-arm spinner BipulSharma deserved a pat for hisbrave show. He gave away just21 runs in three overs and ac-counted for the wicket of Brendon McCullum at a stagewhen the New Zealander wasthreatening to savage the Sun-risers attack. A target of 163was competitive until Warner,the Man of the Match, decidedto alter the trend.

Warner does it for SunrisersBipul Sharma lends a helping hand, as the Hyderabad team makes Sunday's final

CAPTAIN'S KNOCK: David Warner’s tactical handling of the chase, pacing his innings and marking his bowlers to maul, snatched the match away from Lions andtheir skipper Sursh Raina who failed with the bat on Friday.—P HOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

V IJAY LOKAPALLY

NEW DELHI: Ferozeshah Kotlahosted its last match of the sea-son — the Gujarat Lions-Sun-risers Hyderabad contest —and bid farewell to Justice(Retd.) Mukul Mudgal after ajob well done.

The former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana HighCourts, under instructionsfrom the Delhi High Court,had been given the responsib-ility of supervising the match-es at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

The Delhi and DistrictCricket Association (DDCA)had ruined its reputation withits factionalism, and JusticeMudgal oversaw the conductof the matches, beginning with

the India-South Africa Testlast December followed by theICC World Twenty20 and theIndian Premier League (IPL).

“This is my last match. I amnot likely to be involved withcricket matches (at Kotla)again,” said Justice Mudgaltold The Hindu.

He will submit his report tothe High Court in July. TheDDCA top brass is alreadynervous since Justice Mudgalis expected to give a scathingreport.

“The proxy system needs arelook,” he said on the systemof voting prevalent at theDDCA. “I dealt with sometough cases but this assign-ment was perhaps thetoughest.

“I had been instructed bythe High Court, and it was alearning curve for me. It was adifficult job. I learnt a lot aboutorganising cricket matches,and the difficulty the organis-ers face,” said Justice Mudgal.

High point

He said the “profits” madeduring the Test was the highpoint of his Kotla assignment.“We gave away 8500 tickets tothe school kids and yet madeprofit. To me, the school chil-dren cheering the Indian team(during the Test) was the mostsatisfying part of the job.”

Having set a precedent atKotla, Justice Mudgal was de-lighted to know that the Boardof Control for Cricket in India

(BCCI) has recently an-nounced that a minimum of 10per cent seats will be givenaway free to school studentsand the specially challenged.

When asked why Salil Seth,part of his committee and cur-rently media manager at theDDCA, was part of the pre-sentation function in the SRH-KKR match here on Wednes-day, he said, “because SalilSeth had worked very hardand deserved to be there.”

Justice Mudgal felt that theLodha Committee recommen-dations would change the faceof cricket administration in In-dia.

“It is well intended and willdo a world of good for the waycricket is conducted in India.”

CRICKET

Kotla assignment was my toughest: Mudgal V IJAY LOKAPALLY

CHESTER-LE-STREET: England's

batsmen failed to take full ad-vantage on a first day of swing-ing fortunes in the second Testagainst Sri Lanka, finishing on310 for six after outstandingcatching kept the touring sidein contention on Friday.

A late cameo from JonnyBairstow, who oozed confi-dence after his first-Test 140,steadied an innings that hadbeen in danger of falling awaybut he departed for 48 just be-fore the close as Sri Lankafought back on a slow pitch inDurham.

Both England openers mis-sed landmarks in chilly condi-tions at Chester-le-Streetwhere England have won allfive of their previous tests.

Alastair Cook chose to bat inthe hope of scoring the 20 runshe needed to become theyoungest player — and firstEnglishman — to reach 10,000runs.

But the opener only made 15

before jabbing at a wide deliv-ery from Suranga Lakmal and

he was well caught by a divingDimuth Karunaratne in theslips.

Cook's opening partnerAlex Hales also had a personalmilestone in mind and cameclose to a maiden Test centu-ry. But after judiciously mix-

ing attack and defence for 83,he fell to a superb catch by An-

gelo Mathews at slip off the

spinner Milanda Siriwadana.With under-pressure NickCompton again departingcheaply, Joe Root needed toprovide renewed momentum.

The Yorkshireman chalkedup an effortless 80 before hewas surprised by a quicker ballfrom Nuwan Pradeep.

England fails to punish Sri Lanka

Joe Root. —P HOTO: GARETH COPLEY/

GETTY IMAGES

SHAMKIR (AZERBAIJAN): Grand-master P. Harikrishna outwit-ted Shakhriyar Mamedyarovof Azerbaijan in the secondround of the Shamkir Interna-tional chess tournament hereon Friday.

Mamedyarov survived a dif-ficult opening and a toughmiddle-game, but in the end-game, Harikrishna was able tocash in on his advantage. Thecontest lasted just 33 moves.

With seven rounds still togo, Harikrishna shares the leadwith Fabiano Caruana, a win-ner over Ukraine’s Pavel Elja-nov.

In the opening round, all thegames in this 10-player tourna-ment had ended in draws.

The results (second round): P.Harikrishna (Ind, 1.5) bt ShakhriyarMamedyarov (Aze, 0.5); Pavel Elja-nov (Ukr, 0.5) lost to Fabiano Carua-na (USA, 1.5); Rauf Mamedov (Aze, 1)drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze,

1); Yifan Hou (Chn, 1) drew with Sa-farli Eltaj (Aze, 1). — PTI

Harikrishna stunsMamedyarov

(McCullum), 5-83 (Smith), 6-134(Finch), 7-158 (Bravo).

Sunrisers bowling: Bhuvnesh-war Kumar 4-0-27-2, Trent Boult 4-0-39-1, Barinder Sran 3-0-28-0, BipulSharma 3-0-21-1, Ben Cutting 3-0-20-2, Moises Henriques 3-0-27-0.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: DavidWarner (not out) 93 ( 58b, 11x4, 3x6 ),Shikhar Dhawan run out 0 (4b), Mois-es Henriques c Dwivedi b Smith 11(6b, 2x4), Yuvraj Singh c Smith bKaushik 8 ( 13b, 1x4), Deepak Hoodalbw b Bravo 4 (9b), Ben Cutting c Kar-thik b Kaushik 8 (7b, 1x4), Naman Oj-ha c Jadeja b Bravo 10 (8b, 1x6 ), Bipul

Gujarat Lions: Eklavya Dwivedi cBoult b Bhuvneshwar 5 ( 5b, 1x4),Brendon McCullum c Bhuvneshwar bBipul Sharma 32 ( 29b, 5x4), SureshRaina lbw b Boult 1 ( 5b), Dinesh Kar-thik run out 26 ( 19b, 4x4, 1x6 ), AaronFinch b Cutting 50 ( 32b, 7x4, 2x6 ),Dwayne Smith c Dhawan b Cutting 1( 3b), Ravindra Jadeja (not out) 19( 15b, 1x4), Dwayne Bravo b Bhuv-neshwar 20 ( 10b, 4x4), Dhawal Kul-karni (not out) 3 ( 2b); Extras (w-5): 5;Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs):162.

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Dwivedi), 2-19 (Raina), 3-63 (Karthik), 4-81

Sharma (not out) 27 ( 11b, 3x6 ); Ex-tras (lb-1, w-1): 2; Total (for six wkts.in 19.2 overs): 163.

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Dhawan), 2-33 (Henriques), 3-61 (Yuvraj), 4-75(Hooda), 5-84 (Cutting), 6-117 (Ojha).

Lions bowling: Praveen Kumar3.2-0-32-0, Dhawal Kulkarni 4-0-32-0, Dwayne Smith 2-0-29-1, SureshRaina 2-0-15-0, Shivil Kaushik 4-0-22-2, Dwayne Bravo 4-0-32-2.

Toss: Sunrisers.Man-of-the-match: David

Warner. Sunrisers won by four wickets

with four balls to spare.

SCOREBOARD



CMYK

ND-ND

SPORT18 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

The Isavasya Upanishad which has 18 mantras is, strictlyspeaking, not an Upanishad. It comes under the Samhitaportion of the Sukla Yajurveda, called Vajasaneya Samhita, as

the concluding 40th chapter. But since it teaches about theSupreme Brahman, it is called an Upanishad. It is in the formof a directive from a teacher to a disciple, giving the realities— tattva, hita and purushartha — following the sequence of the Brahmasutra, elaborated M.K. Srinivasan in a discourse.

This Upanishad tells us about the Supreme Brahman, themeans to attain Him and the fruits of attaining Him. In otherwords, it talks about tattva, hita and purushartha. VedantaDesika has commented only on this Upanishad, because itrepresents the Visishtadvaita philosophy fully. TheIsavasyopanishad begins by saying that this world belongs tothe Supreme One and that we must enjoy it withdetachment. The first mantra indicates that the SupremeOne is different from jivas and matter.

The words ‘idam sarvam’ indicate that both sentient andnon sentient entities are real. The words ‘yat kincha’ indicatethat everything has Him as the inner self. In other words, Heis Omnipresent.

Lord Narayana does not move and yet He is faster than thewind. What this seemingly contradictory statement means isthat the Lord, being all pervading, is present everywhere. Sowhere is the need for Him to move anywhere? And yet, it isnot that He is without the capacity to move if He so chooses.Nothing is beyond His capacity. He is both Omnipotent andOmniscient. He is far away and yet close by, says theUpanishad. He is close to those whose minds are focused on

Him. But He is far away from those who are attached toobjects enjoyed by the senses.

Isavasya Upanishad

FAITH

A mind game and a

puzzle that you solve

with reasoning and

logic. Fill in the grid with

digits in such a manner

that every row, every

column and every 3x3

box accommodates the

digits 1 to 9, without

repeating any. The

solution to yesterday’s

puzzle is at left.

SU | DO | KU

VARIETY

Across

1 I could be asleep shortly, some

time left (7)

5 After a month Harry gets

restless (7)

9 Capital fellow from republican

state (5)

10 Offering bag of rice — accept

condition (9)

holding up everything (5,1,3)

16 Ones who check hair do play a

part (9)

17 Everyone will talk about

Sydney's suburbs — a place

to relax (4,5)20 Law shows bias over stretch

(6)

21 Show courage or pay up —

man makes way for son (6)

23 Correct opening, wrong

ending... (5)

24 ...seconds before lazy Susan

could commit a sin (5)

25 Somebody in the Director's

office (5)

24 Not a view for one having long

sight (9)

26 Colour starts with green, then

red — is used in perfumes (9)

27 Food from a store mostly (5)

28 Bit the head off gently (7)29 Endless fortitude is not a

threat (7)

Down

1 Some say — “a wrong time to

go up country” (6)

2 Notes — man made or

original? (9)

3 Manage, raise the period of

preparation (3-2)

4 Dandy stalks girl with sex

appeal — day wasted doing

nothing (9)

5 Confused perhaps, but endless

concentration (5)

6 Fantastic fish — one's stuffing

it (9)

7 One's precise describing one

as a fool (5)

8 Team toured extensively, sixty

left (6)14 Suspect flowing stream is

1 2 3

4

5 6 7

8

9

10

11 12

13 14

15

16 17

18 19

20

21

22 23

24 25

26 27

28

29

I N S U L T E V E N S O N G

N E O P E I U R

F A C E T I O U S G U S T O

A U T L T H T V

N U R S E R Y E N T W I N E

T E R S D N L

R A D I I A X I O L O G Y

Y E C N I A

P U S S Y C A T T H E R M

A M H E T L E

S I B E R I A R E E L E C T

K R O R E R C H

I D A H O I T S Y B I T S Y

N G S D T U R SG H E T T O E S A G H A S T

Arden

Solution to puzzle 11711

11 Wastes amateur awards (9)

12 Can drunk man be graceful? (5)

13 Sung about horny creatures (4)

15 It's a surprise when one is

caught so (8)

18 Stick outside like a window (8)

19 Work time query (4)

22 Inner diameter of ring's abouta foot (5)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11712

TENHIPALAM: A fine effort byDhirendra Kumar in pole vaultlit up the second day of the 13thNational youth athletics at theUniversity Stadium here onFriday.

The Gujarat lad cleared4.72m to break the National re-cord of Parminder Kumar Pa-tel of Uttar Pradesh (4.70m),set in 2010. He also erased theexisting meet record of Harya-na’s Kundan (4.41m), estab-lished in 2011.

“I was hoping to break theNational record here,” Dhi-rendra told The Hindu. “Mypersonal best was 4.60m and Iwas confident of getting pastit.”

The day also saw M. Sreesh-ankar of Kerala (boys’ longjump) and Ayesha Patel of Ut-tar Pradesh (girls’ hammerthrow) set new meet records.Sreeshankar obliterated the2009 mark of Ankit Kumar of Madhya Pradesh, whileAyesha wiped out the recordset last year by Poonam Jakharof Haryana.

Going into the final day, Ut-tar Pradesh continued to be inthe lead for the race for the

overall title, with 60 points.

But host and defending cham-pion Kerala was in hot pursuit,with 57 points. Haryana has 51points, while Maharashtra has49.5.

The results: Boys: 1500m: 1.Ajay Kumar Bind (Asm) 4:03.30; 2.Rakesh Mandal (Utk) 4:04.66; 3.Prashant Lodhi (Man) 4:05.11.

110m hurdles: 1. Alden Anil Na-ronha (Mah) 14.36s; 2. Maharaja (TN)14.59s; 3. Amandeep Singh (Pun)14.87s.

Long jump: 1. M. Sreeshankar

(Ker) 7.49m: NMR; OR: 7.41m; 2. M.

Mahesh (TN) 7.18m; 3. S. Lokesh(Kar) 7.14m.

Pole vault: 1. Dhirendra Kumar(Guj) 4.72m: NR; OR: 4.70m; 2. Man-ish Singh (Del) 4.40m; 3. Krishan(Har) 4.30m.

Hammer: 1. Vikranta (UP)68.28m; 2. Mohammed Arshlan (UP)67.54m; 3. Meraj Ali (UP) 67.33m.

10 km walk: 1. Naveen (Har)47:01.88; 2. Vijay (Har) 47:54.21; 3.Sachin (Del) 47:54.99.

Girls: 1500m: 1. Neetu Kumari(Jha) 4:53.58; 2. Dolly Ghosh (Ben)

5:00.49; 3. Anagha Tom (Ker)

5:03.38.100m hurdles: 1. V. Jyothi (Tel)

14.68s; 2. Sapna Kumari (Jha) 14.69s;3. Anjaly Thomas (Ker) 15.39s.

High jump: 1. Rajasree Das (Ben)1.61m; 2. Payal Kanwar (Raj) 1.61m; 3.K.A. Rubeena (Ker) 1.58m.

Hammer: 1. Ayesha Patel (UP)52.71m; NMR; OR: 52.19m; 2. Radha-na Yadav (Bih) 47.45m; 3. Sneha Jad-hav (Mah) 45.89m.

5 km walk: 1. Bandana Patel (Bih)26:20.73; 2. Manju Rani (Pun)26:21.22; 3. Pushpa (Har) 27:25.29.

ATHLETICS

Dhirendra vaults to National recordP.K. A JITHK UMAR

NEW HIGH: Gujarat's Dhirendra Kumar cleared 4.72m in the pole vault event on Friday.—PHOTO: K. RAGESH

PUNE: Three youngsters — Gar-gi Pawar, Mushrath Shaik andAaryan Zaveri — lined them-selves up for a double, advanc-ing to the singles and doublesfinals at the Arun WakankarMemorial-ATF Asian U-14 se-ries tennis tournament, at theMSLTA School of Tennis, Ba-lewadi tennis complex.

Gargi won 6-2, 6-1 in a one-sided semifinal against RiyaUboveja, Mushrath slogged itout for a 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4 winover local player Malikaa Ma-rathe, and Aaryan Zaveri shutout qualifier Aditya Balsekarin straight sets in the boys’semifinals.

The results: Semifinals: Boys:Rudra Kapoor bt Amrutjay Mohanty6-1, 6-2; Aaryan Zaveri bt Aditya Bal-sekar 6-3, 6-2. Doubles: Rajeshkan-

nan Subramani & Aaryan Zaveri btArun Venkat Guruswamy (Aus) & Ru-dra Kapoor 6-0, 6-1; Nishant Dabas &Amaan Adil Tezabwala bt Yash Agar-wa & Lokaditya Vardhan Sira 6-3,6-2. Girls: Gargi Pawar bt Riya Ubo-veja 6-2, 6-1; Mushrath Shaik bt Mali-kaa Marathe 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4. Dou-bles: Mubashira Shaik & MushrathShaik bt Malikaa Marathe & RiyaUboveja 4-6, 6-3, [10-3]. Gargi Pawar& Bela Tamhankar bt Amulika Gotti-parthy & Renee Sharma 6-2, 6-1. —Sports Bureau

Gargi, Mushrath, Aaryan in finals

ANDIJAN (UZBEKISTAN): SriramBalaji won the doubles title,partnering Markos Kalovelo-nis of Russia, but lost the sin-gles semifinals to second seedTemur Ismailov of Uzbekis-tan in the $25,000 ITF Futurestennis tournament on Friday.

It was the third title of theseason, and the 33rd doublescrown in the professional cir-cuit, for the 26-year-old Sri-ram Balaji, who won the last of his six singles titles in 2014.

In the concurrently-heldwomen’s $25,000 event, fifthseed Ankita Raina went downfighting to second seed SabinaSharipova in three sets. It wasthe sixth successive loss for

Ankita against the Uzbek,their first meeting takingplace in the ITF junior circuitin 2010.

Meanwhile, in the $10,000ITF women’s event in SharmEl Sheikh (Egypt), Sai Sam-hitha, Nidhi Chilumula, Y.Pranjala and Eetee Mahetamade the quarterfinals.

The results: $25,000 ITF men,Andijan, Uzbekistan: Singles(semifinals): Temur Ismailov (Uzb)bt Sriram Balaji 6-3, 6-4; Doubles

(final): Markos Kalovelonis (Rus) &Sriram Balaji bt Roman Khassanov(Kaz) & Vitaly Kozyukov (Rus) 6-3,6-4.

$25,000 ITF women, Andijan,Uzbekistan: Singles (semifinals):Sabina Sharipova (Uzb) bt AnkitaRaina 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

$10,000 ITF women, Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt: Singles (pre-quar-terfinals): Ola Abou Zekry (Egy) btAmrita Mukherjee 6-3, 6-4; SaiSamhitha bt Maria Zotova (Rus)6-3, 6-1; Nidhi Chilumula bt JelenaLukic (Srb) 6-1, 6-1; Y. Pranjala btFederica Prati (Ita) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; Ee-tee Maheta bt Nermeen Shawky(Egy) 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): InesMurta (Por) & Nidhi Chilumula bt

Nina Kolar (Slo) & Lalita Devarakon-da 6-3, 6-2; Linnea Malmqvist(Swe) & Zhao Qianqian (Chn) bt Je-lena Lukic (Srb) & Amrita Mukher-

jee 7-6(1), 6-2; Eleni Kordolaimi(Gre) & Eetee Maheta bt FedericaPrati (Ita) & Maria Zotova (Rus) 6-1,6-4.

$10,000 ITF women, Antalya,Turkey: Doubles (semifinals):Francesca Stephenson (GBr) & Eri-ka Vogelsang (Ned) bt Anna Slova-kova (Cze) & Kyra Shroff 6-3, 2-6,[10-8]. — Sports Bureau

TENNIS

Sriram Balaji winsdoubles, loses singles

HONG KONG: Joshna Chinappafought her way into the final of the HKFC Internationalsquash tournament, a PSAevent. The third-seeded Indi-an needed exactly an hour toend the run of second seed andlocal favourite Annie Au in

five games 8-11, 11-9, 12-10, 7-11,11-9. In the title round, she willface the top seed, Joelle Kingof New Zealand.

Just two weeks ago, Joshnahad swept aside Annie, rankedthree rungs above the Indianat 10 in the world rankings, instraight games in the Asianteam championship.

This will be Joshna’s 19th ap-pearance in a final in the pro-fessional circuit. She has won11 titles so far. — Sports Bureau

Joshna keeps hernerve, enters final

Joshna. —PHOTO: R. RAGU

TASHKENT: Indian GM and for-mer World junior championAbhijeet Gupta was shockedby unheralded Fang Yan of China in the first round of Asian continental chesschampionship.

B. Adhiban, however, hadlittle difficulties in topplingthe defence of ShamsiddinVakhidov of Uzbekistan.

Vidit Gujrathi also got off toa flier giving a positional les-son to his lesser known oppo-nent Bakhodir Kholmirzaev.

GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly

was also at his best in crushingTsogbayar Baterdene of Mon-golia.

S.P. Sethuraman was theother winner with white piec-es against Arif Abdul Hafiz of Indonesia.

In the women’s champion-ship being held simultaneous-ly, Padmini Rout started off steadily with a fine victoryover Asian junior girls’ cham-pion Uuriintuya Uurtsaikh of Mongolia. Soumya Swamithanwas held to a draw by SultanaSharmin Shirin. — PTI

CHESS

Fang Yan stuns Abhijeet Gupta

LONDON: Manchester Unitedon Friday anointed Jose Mou-rinho as its new manager tolaunch a third bid in less thanthree years to transform theRed Devils into a title-win-ning force again.

After three days of talks,Mourinho agreed a three-year contract on a bumpersalary reportedly worth more

than $20 million a year.But the 53-year-old Portu-guese super coach said it wasthe “mystique” of United thatdrew him to the challenge.Man United, one the world’sbiggest football clubs, needsreviving after first DavidMoyes and then Louis vanGaal failed to emulate theglory years of Alex Ferguson.

“To become ManchesterUnited manager is a specialhonour in the game,” Mourin-ho said in a club statement.

“It is a club known and ad-mired throughout the world.There is a mystique and a ro-mance about it which no oth-er club can match.

“I have always felt an affin-ity with Old Trafford; it hashosted some important me-mories for me in my careerand I have always enjoyed arapport with the United fans.

“I’m looking forward to be-

ing their manager and enjoy-ing their magnificent supportin the coming years.”

Mourinho seemed des-tined to manage United eversince his Porto side eliminat-ed Ferguson’s men from the2004 Champions League.Porto went on to win thetitle.

He thought his time had

come when Ferguson retiredin 2013, but concerns over hisvolatile personality prompt-ed United to turn to the morereserved Moyes instead.

But with that move prov-ing a disaster and van Gaalfaring little better, United’spowerbrokers have decidedto take a chance on Mourin-ho, despite his turbulentreputation.

Media reports said Mou-rinho will have a £200 mil-lion fund to buy players forUnited which failed to quali-fy for the Champions Leaguewith its fifth-placed finish inthe English Premier Leagueunder van Gaal. — AFP

Mourinho anointedMan United boss

The former Chelseamanager on a three-yearcontract reportedly has a£200 million fund to buyplayers



CMYK

ND-ND

SPORT | 19THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI

LOS ANGELES: Stephen Curryscored 31 points as the defend-ing champion Golden StateWarriors kept its record-set-ting season alive with a 120-111win over Oklahoma CityThunder in game five of theirWestern Conference playoff.

Curry, who has beenplagued by injuries through-out the postseason, saved hisbest game of the series for

Thursday night as he also hadseven rebounds and six assists.After a record-setting 73

regular season wins, despera-tion set in for Warriors onThursday as they trimmed theThunder’s lead to 3-2 in the se-ries.

The Warriors have a daunt-ing task ahead of them whenthe teams square off for gamesix Saturday in Oklahoma Cityas just nine NBA teams haverallied from being down 3-1 towin a playoff series.

Game seven, if necessary,would be on Monday in Oak-land. Andre Iguodala and Har-rison Barnes drained three-pointers on consecutive pos-sessions during an eight-pointflurry that opened a 12-pointlead early in the fourth quarter

Curry went 10-for-10 fromthe free-throw line, as theWarriors overcame a 40-pointperformance by Thunder starKevin Durant to keep theirhopes of a title repeat alive.

Prior to Thursday's game,media reports listed Curry asbeing 70 percent healthy, say-

ing his injuries were one of themain reasons the Warriorswere on the brink of elimina-tion. Klay Thompson support-ed Curry with 27 points for theWarriors, who are now 4-1 af-ter losses in the playoffs.

The Warriors won despitemaking just nine of their 24

three-point attempts.The result: Western Confer-

ence playoff: Golden State Warriors120 (Stephen Curry 31, Klay Thomp-son 27, Andrew Bogut 15) bt Oklaho-ma City Thunder 111 (Russell West-brook 31, Serge Ibaka 13).

(Thunder lead the series 3-2 ). —AFP

Warriors beat Thunder to stay alive

BACK IN FORM: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, who has been plagued by injuriesthroughout the post-season, saved his best for Thursday’s game against Oklahoma CityThunder.—PHOTO: AP

NBA

BENGALURU: The Lieutenant, who is infine fettle, may score in the Speaker’sCup (1,400m), the main event of theraces to be held here on Saturday (May28).

False rails (width about 6m from1,600m to the winning post) will be inposition.

1 HOLDING COURT PLATE(Div. II), (1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 2.00p.m.: 1. High Hawk (9) Merchant 60,2. Astral Spirit (10) Noornabi 59.5, 3.Internal Affair (1) Kuldeep 59, 4. KingSmile (2) K. Mukesh 59, 5. Tea WithMe (4) D. Patel 59, 6. Dancing Prin-cess (7) P.S. Chouhan 58.5, 7. Rever-berating (3) Kiran Rai 58.5, 8.

Churchill (5) Rajesh Kumar 58, 9.Desert Gold (8) Khurshad 57.5 and 10.Roaring Thunder (6) T.S. Jodha 57.5.1. Astral Spirit, 2. Dancing Prin-cess, 3. Reverberating

2 MALAKPET PLATE (1,600m),rated 00 to 20, 2.30: 1. Rocket Man (1)S. Asgar 60, 2. Hero Worship (10)Zervan 59.5, 3. Raziel (7) P. Dhebe59.5, 4. Red Cedar (6) Bhawani Singh59.5, 5. Flash Fire (9) Akshay Kumar57.5, 6. Elegant Star (3) Shobhan 57, 7.Summer Star (4) A. Ramu 57, 8. SeaDove (8) S.J. Sunil 55, 9. Tuscano (2)Arshad Alam 54 and 10. Interactive(5) Adarsh 52.5.1. Red Cedar, 2. Tuscano, 3. HeroWorship

3 BRIG. R.C.R.HILL MEMO-RIAL TROPHY (Div. II), (1,200m),rated 30 to 50, 3.00: 1. Secret Prayer(1) Rajesh Kumar 60, 2. New Prince(5) Zervan 59, 3. Humming Bird (8)Kiran Rai 57, 4. Diva (7) Akshay Ku-mar 56.5, 5. Rare And Bold (2) P.Dhebe 56.5, 6. Beauty Is Truth (4)Adarsh 56, 7. Perfect King (6) K. Mu-

kesh 55 and 8. Sairani (3) DeepakSingh 53.5.1. New Prince, 2. Secret Prayer,3. Diva

4 GLORIOUS COLOURSPLATE (1,200m), maiden 3-y-o on-ly, (Terms), 3.30: 1. Bold Runner (11)B. Nayak 56, 2. Raw Gold (5) MunnaAlam 56, 3. Anantara (2) P.S. Chou-han 54.5, 4. Antananarivo (4) S. John54.5, 5. Arabian Promise (3) Sai Ku-mar 54.5, 6. Escala (9) Sandesh 54.5,7. Flirting Eyes (8) David Breux 54.5,8. Good Wishes (10) K. Mukesh 54.5,9. Interesting (7) N. Rawal 54.5, 10.Loveisintheair (12) Kiran Rai 54.5, 11.Royal Striker (1) Kiran Naidu 54.5

and 12. String Of Pearls (6) T.S. Jod-ha 54.5.1. Anantara, 2. Antananarivo, 3.Flirting Eyes

5 SPEAKER’S CUP (1,400m),rated 60 & above, 4.00: 1. Ace Bar-daan (4) Qureshi 62.5, 2. Ethophian(2) Kiran Rai 59, 3. New Emperor(10) Rajesh Kumar 58.5, 4. RussianLink (12) A. Imran Khan 57.5, 5. Sil-ver Chieftain (9) David Breux 57, 6.Baracchus (1) S. John 55.5, 7. Be In-spired (11) Selvaraj 55.5, 8. KingstonTown (6) Md. Asif Khan 55.5, 9.Torch Bearer (3) Sandesh 55, 10. Jer-sey Shore (5) Neeraj 54.5, 11. TheLieutenant (7) Zervan 54.5 and 12.Zucchero (8) Akshay Kumar 54.1. The Lieutenant, 2. Zucchero,3. Russian Link

6 BRIG. R.C.R. HILL MEMO-RIAL TROPHY (Div. I), (1,200m),rated 30 to 50, 4.30: 1. Expert (1)Rajesh Kumar 60, 2. King Of TheCourt (2) Ajinkya 59.5, 3. Possim-possible (4) Janardhan P 59, 4. He-lios (7) Kiran Rai 58.5, 5. Good

Fortune (3) Arshad Alam 57.5, 6. En-gland (6) P.S. Chouhan 55, 7. BornTo Do It (8) Akshay Kumar 54.5 and8. Man Of Law (5) Praveen S 54.5.

1. England, 2. Good Fortune, 3.King Of The Court

7 PRINCE KHARTOUM TRO-PHY (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o only,(Terms), 5.00: 1. Blessed One (6)Shobhan 56, 2. Lightning Strikes (5)R. Marshall 56, 3. Natanza (3) KavrajSingh 56, 4. Back In A Flash (1) Ar-shad Alam 54.5, 5. Bharat Queen (2)K. Mukesh 54.5, 6. Daisy Duke (12)Zervan 54.5, 7. Inter Flora (8) Sand-esh 54.5, 8. Masada (4) Janardha P54.5, 9. Reczai (9) M. Naveen 54.5, 10.Rocket Punch (10) T.S. Jodha 54.5,11. Super Glow (11) Kiran Naidu 54.5and 12. Winsomeness (7) BhawaniSingh 54.5.

1. Natanza, 2. Daisy Duke, 3.Back In A Flash

8 HOLDING COURT PLATE(Div. I), (1,200m), rated 15 to 30, 5.30:1. Groovy Moves (10) A.S. Pawar 60,2. Dignified (1) Jayakumar 58.5, 3.Calico Star (11) Kavraj Singh 57.5, 4.El Matador (9) Chettri 57.5, 5. TopStar (4) Ramesh Kumar 57, 6. FeetOn Fire (6) Sunil Samson 56.5, 7.Native Ruler (7) M. Naveen 56.5, 8.Carducci (2) Deepak Singh 56, 9.Telangana Queen (3) K. Mukesh 56,10. Hot Star (8) S.J. Sunil 54.5 and 11.Island Pearl (5) Rajesh Kumar 54.

1. Dignified, 2. Groovy Moves, 3.Native Ruler

Day’s best: England

Double: Anantara – TheLieutenant

Jkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Tr (i): 3, 4 and 5;(ii): 6, 7 and 8.

The Lieutenant for Speaker’s Cup

UDHAGAMANDALAM: Mr. M. Saba-nayagam’s Splendid Light (Md. Hes-nain up) won the Silver Dale Plate,the feature event of the races heldhere on Friday (May 27). The win-ner is trained by Sebastian.

The results:1. LAMBS ROCK PLATE

(1,200m), maiden 3-y-o only(Terms): Power Of Liberty (C.Umesh) 1, Dashing Conqueror (Ra-jendra Singh) 2, Emblem Of Liberty(Noorshed Alam) 3 and RegimentalHero (C. Murugan) 4. 5-1/2, h d and 7.1m 17.66s. Rs. 9 (w), 6 and 11 (p), Shp:Rs. 25, Fp: Rs. 62, Q: Rs. 32, Tla: Rs.86. Favourite: Power Of Liberty.Owner: Mr. M. Narayanan. Trainer:Uthaiah.

2. SNOW EMPRESS PLATE(1,400m), rated 20 to 45: Pride NGlory (Tanveer Alam) 1, GreenTeak (Farhan Alam) 2, Fortaleza (C.Umesh) 3 and Zlato (K. V. Baskar) 4.Nk, lnk and 1-1/2. 1m 28.80s. Rs. 26(w), 7, 7 and 6 (p), Shp: Rs. 20, Fp: Rs.79, Q: Rs. 60, Tla: Rs. 194. Favourite:Fortaleza. Owner: M. A. M. Ramas-wamy Chettiar of Chettinad Char-atible Trust. Trainer: B. Suresh.

3. DHARAPURAM PLATE(Div. I), (1,200m), rated 40 to 65:Mehabooba (Noorshed Alam) 1,Ice Stakes (Tanveer Alam) 2, WhatA Wonder (Kalyan Singh) 3 and

Quid Pro Quo (C. Umesh) 4. 1-1/2, 5and nose. 1m 15.04s. Rs. 118 (w), 23, 8and 11, Shp: Rs. 10, Fp; Rs. 422, Q: Rs.1,035, Tla: 5,432 (carried over), Fa-vourite: Lancelot. Owners: M/s.Mohd Yusuf, Ramesh Jagtiani, Mrs.Anita Iqbal & Mrs Sunitha Santhosh.Trainer: M. J. Iqbal.

4. DHARAPURAM PLATE(Div.II), (1,200m), rated 40 to 65: Ex-treme Love (Kabdhar) 1, Eduardo(A. Imran Khan) 2, City Of Song (Md.Hesnain) 3 and Trump Card (Mu-kesh Kumar) 4. 1/2, 1/2 and 1/2. 1m15.18s. Rs. 19, (w), 7, 7 and 7 (p), Shp:Rs. 28, Fp: Rs. 31, Q: Rs. 19, Tla: Rs. 61.Favourite: Eduardo. Owner: M. A. M.Ramaswamy Chettiar of ChettinadCharitable Trust. Trainer: R. Foley.

5. SILVER DALE PLATE(1,500m), 6-y-o & over, rated 60 to 85:Splendid Light (Md. Hesnain) 1,Cool Hand (Farhan Alam) 2, StarMarquess (Brisson) 3 and Qing-huangdao (Ayaz Khan) 4. 3-3/4, 3/4and 1-1/4. 1m 34.04s. Rs. 38 (w), 8, 28and 9 (p), Shp: Rs. 279, Fp: Rs. 557(carried over), Q: Rs. 708 (carriedover), Tla: Rs. 3,310 (carried over).Favourite: Reynolds. Owner: Mr. M.Sabanayagam. Trainer: Sebastian.

6. HILL STAMINA CUP(2,000m), 4-y-o rated upto 25:Brave Fighter (A. Imran Khan) 1,Yankee Doodle (C. Umesh) 2, Rhap-

sidion Rose (Kabdhar) 3 andPhy’Eau Liang (Manikandan) 4. 6-1/2, 1-3/4 and 3-1/2. 2m 14s. Rs 13 (w),6, 5 and 6 (p), Shp: Rs. 14, Fp: Rs. 13, Q:Rs. 11, Tla: Rs. 74. Favourite: BraveFighter. Owners: Mrs. Nazia Khan,M/s. Wayne Beck, B. Nawabjan &Mario Desmond Weller. Trainer:Fahad Khan.

7. GUINDY PLATE(1,300m), 3-y-o rated 20 to 45: Empire Of Kings(Brisson) 1, Agentdoubleoseven(Kabdhar) 2, Borntobeking (Bopan-na) 3 and King Dazzler (NoorshedAlam) 4. 1-1/2, 2-1/4 and 1-1/2. 1m24.45s. Rs. 10 (w), 8, 6 and 8 (p), Shp:Rs. 18, Fp: Rs. 19, Q: Rs. 12, Tla: Rs. 205.Favourite: Empire Of Kings. Owner:Mr. PL. Ravi. Trainer: B. Suresh.

8. PODANUR PLATE(1,200m), 6-y-o & over, rated 20 to45: Autumn Love (Md. Hesnain) 1,Fortunate One (A. Imran Khan) 2,Perfect Speed (Farhan Alam) 3 andFront Line (K. V. Baskar) 4. Hd, 2-3/4and 1-1/2. 1m 15.78s. Rs. 20 (w), 8, 7and 6 (p), Shp: Rs. 16, Fp: Rs. 25, Q: Rs.17, Tla: Rs. 60. Favourite: FortunateOne. Owners: Mr. P. Packiasamy,Mr. V. Sathish Kumar & Mr. J. Sebas-tian. Trainer: Sebastian.

Jackpot: Rs. 7,812 (18 tkts.), Treble(i): Rs. 6,895 (carried over); (ii): Rs.981 (10 tkts.).

Splendid Light wins main event

HONG KONG: Former Australiancaptain Michael Clarke on Fri-day said his body felt 15 yearsyounger after a spell awayfrom cricket as he preparedfor a comeback at the HongKong Twenty20 Blitz.

Injury-plagued Clarke saidnine months without cricketand its rigorous travel, as wellas a revamped diet and train-ing regime, had given him anew lease of life as he contem-plates joining the lucrativeTwenty20 bandwagon.

The 35-year-old batsmanplayed his last Twenty20 In-ternational in 2010 but he willtest the waters for a stint inAustralia’s Big Bash League atthe four-team Hong Kong

event this weekend.Clarke, troubled by chronicback problems, retired afterlast year’s Ashes series butless than a year later, he willmake an experimental hit-outfor Kowloon Cantons.

“I’m going to play thesecouple of games and see how Igo, see if I enjoy it and then as-sess after that,” he said.

“Right now it’s about com-ing here and having some fun.If I enjoy it, I’ll assess when Iget home what my exact planwill be.”

He added: “My body’s goingreally well. My body hasn’tfelt this good in 15 years. Let’shope I’m saying that on Sun-day night after four games of cricket!”

Clarke has been in discus-sions about playing for theSydney Sixers in the increas-ingly popular Big Bash, and asteady stream of his country-

men have padded their bankaccounts and fanbases in In-dia’s money-spinning IPL.

Apart from a “rusty” 48 in aSydney club game in Febru-ary, Clarke said he had hardlyplayed or even watched anycricket this year.

T20 trend

“I don’t think it’s new,” hesaid, when asked about thetrend of players turning toT20 after internationalcricket.

“I think of Adam Gilchrist,Ricky Ponting, Andrew Sy-monds, Matthew Hayden, Mi-chael Hussey, Brad Haddin —all these guys have been doingit for years.

“It just seems to be a littlebit bigger because I’m in-volved.”

Clarke, who became a fa-ther in November and runs a

cricket academy in Sydney,said he was busier than eversince retiring.

After years of pain, he saidhe had changed his physicalregime to improve his generalwellbeing, rather than hiscricket, but he hoped his fit-ness wouldn't be a factor thisweekend.

“I haven’t done it for crick-et, I’ve done it for my day-to-day life. It’s a nice feeling to beable to put your shoes andsocks on in the morning withno pain,” he said.“I haven’tlooked at it in a cricket sense,to be honest. “It’s more aboutbending down to pick up mydaughter with no pain, carrymy daughter around for anhour if we go for a walk withno pain.” He added: “I’m excit-ed, I feel fit and healthy so it(Hong Kong) won’t be aboutmy fitness.— AFP

CRICKET

I feel like I’m 20, says Clarke

REINVIGORATED: Former Australian captain Michael Clarke saysnine months without cricket and its rigorous travel have givenhim a new lease of life as he contemplates joining thelucrative T20 bandwagon. —PHOTO: AFP

NEW DELHI: Deepak Khattrihad the talent but not theplatform to showcase it.He would travel fromSonepat, a town on theoutskirts of Delhi, andlook for opportunities. OnFriday, he grabbed one atthe Modern Schoolground.

Six sixes in an over off left-arm chinaman bowlerMilind Tandon catapultedhim to stardom. He racedfrom 78 to 114 in that over,the fielders scurrying toretrieve the ball. Thegame was halted as theywent in search of the ball.It rained sixes and foursas Khattri smashed a109-ball 214 (13x4, 20x6)on a hot day.

Khattri’s performancehelped Vidya JainAcademy defeat RPAcademy by 42 runs and

enter the quarterfinals of the 41st Lala RaghubirSingh Hot Weathercricket tournament. Thevenue has seen some of the biggest names inIndian cricket — KapilDev, Navjot Singh Sidhu,Virender Sehwag, ViratKohli, and Yuvraj Singh —who have played in thistournament regularly.Gautam Gambhir, too,took his early lessons atthe Modern School.

“I just concentrated onmaking some quick runs,”said Khattri, who walkedin at No. 3 with thescoreboard reading threefor one. It read a healthy285 when he got out, andVidya Jain eventuallyreached 341 for eight.

“After the fourth six, Ithought I had a chance tomake it six in a row,” saidKhattri, who played thepull with a flourish off thenext two deliveries. Teamcoach Naresh Jain said,“He was unstoppablebecause he had set atarget for himself.”Khattri was groomed byMadan Sharma, the coachwho had shaped ShikharDhawan’s career.

“He is a dangerousbatsman since he has anamazing range of shots.His strong point is histemperament. He playsstraight mostly and hislong stride (he is six feettall) gives him an extraedge.”

The scores: Vidya JainAcademy 341 for eight in 40overs (Deepak Khattri 214) btRP Academy 299 for nine in 40overs. — SpecialCorrespondent

Six sixes in anover… Khattri’sday out

BENGALURU: Recent reportswhich suggest that the I-League and Indian SuperLeague (ISL) are likely to bemerged have taken SunilChhetri by surprise. Bengalu-ru FC (BFC) and India starChhetri, who was part of thediscussions held on the matterrecently, said that as it standsnow, the plan is still in the nas-cent stages.

“When I attended that meet-ing, we were told not to talkabout it, because the idea of merging the I-League and theISL was supposed to be just a

first draft. But the very nextday, all the newspapers had re-ported on the matter. A firstdraft is something which hasbeen proposed, and whichneeds further discussion. Iwant to hold my thoughts onthe matter for now,” Chhetrisaid, in an event held to cele-brate BFC’s I-League and AFCCup success, at the PUMA So-cial Club here on Friday.

Asked what else was dis-cussed at the meeting, thestriker replied, “It was an in-formal meeting where a lot of ideas were proposed. It wasgood to see all the stakehold-ers come together and speak

their mind. All the big namesof Indian football were pre-sent. As for me, I stressed onthe need to establish a stronggrassroot structure in thecountry.”

In a separate development,it has emerged that Chhetriand other BFC players may beforced to miss the club’s AFCCup quarterfinal fixture, as itclashes with their ISL commit-ment. “I don't know; there's noclarity yet. I hope both partiescan resolve the issue, becausewhen BFC plays in the AFCCup, it feels like we are repre-senting the country,” the 31-year-old said.

FOOTBALL

‘Merger idea was supposed to be first draft’ A SHWIN A CHAL

REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Good knocks byYashdeep, LakshayNEW DELHI: Yashdeep Singh(85) and Lakshay Goyal (67)helped Rohtak RoadGymkhana thrash BharatiyaVidya Bhavan by 164 runs inthe fourth ACE under-12tournament.The scores: Rohtak RoadGymkhana276 forfourin 30overs(Yashdeep 85,Lakshay Goyal 67) btBVB 114 for eight in 30 overs(Priyansh Malikthree for five).

Chetanya stars forMount AbuChetanya Chadha’s 80 helpedMount Abu School beat

Airliner Academy by fourwickets in the Swastik Cuptournament.The scores: AirlinerAcademy174forsixin 40overs (Mohit Kumar54,Vatsal Sharma 30, ShantanuChaudharythree for44) lost toMount Abu School175 forsixin35.3overs (Chetanya Chadha80,Puneet Singh 43).

Vikas, Mayank andYogesh shine

Vikas Hathwala scored anunbeaten 52 while MayankDagar and Yogesh Kumarsnapped up four wicketsapiece as Sporting CricketClub moved into thesemifinals of the 43rdGoswami Ganesh Duttmemorial tournament with afour-wicket win againstCollage Sports Club.The scores: CSC 196 in 40 overs(Shivam Chaudhary51, MayankDagar four for 39, Yogesh Kumarfour for 35) lost to Sporting

CC201for six in 35 overs (VikasHathwala 52 n.o., Ajmer Singh 35,Varun Sood three for 21).

NEW DELHI: The Indian shootersmanaged to grab the juniormen’s rapid fire pistol teambronze in the 26th Meeting of Shooting Hopes internationalcompetition in Plzen, CzechRepublic, on Friday.

Even though Anhad Jawan-da (559), Rushiraj Atul Barot(556) and Aadeithyaa Joahal(544) were far from makingthe cut for the final which fellat 564 in a small field of 26shooters, together they wonthe bronze, six points behindhost Czech Republic and threepoints ahead of Russia.

In contrast, in a strong fieldof 93 shooters in junior wom-en’s air rifle, Dilreen Gill shot412.8 and missed the final by0.5 point. National champion-

ship silver medallist GeetakshiDixit (411.4) and Aashi Rastogi(411.3) pulled the team togeth-er with Dilreen but the trio fin-ished fifth among 20 teams, 3.7points behind bronze medal-list Russia.

In two days of competition,in traditionally one of the mostprestigious junior meet in theworld, India has managed towin a silver and two bronze.

The results: Junior men: 25mrapid fire pistol: 1. Oskar Miliwek(Pol) 24 (572); 2. Nicolas Thiel (Fra)22 (565); 3. Clement Freffier (Fra) 18(566); 9. Anhad Jawanda 559; 10.Rushiraj Atul Barot 556; 14. ThomasGeorge 548; 16. Aadeithyaa Joahal544; 19. Gurmeet 541; 23. Akshay Ku-mar 522. Team: 1. France 1681; 2.Czech Republic 1665; 3. India-A 1659;6. India-B 1611.

Junior women: 10m air rifle: 1.Virginia Thrasher (US) 208.4 (420.6);2. Milica Babic (Srb) 207.8 (419.5); 3.Nikola Foistova (Cze) 186.8 (414.5);11. Dilreen Gill 412.8; 20. GeetakshiDixit 411.4; 21. Aashi Rastogi 411.3;

22. Zenab Hussain Bandookwala411.1; 23. Ayushi Podar 411.0; 49.Shreya Saxena 406.4.

Team: 1. US 1241.4; 2. Serbia1240.8; 3. Russia 1239.2; 5. India-A1235.5; 9. India-B 1228.5. — SportsBureau

SHOOTING

Bronze for India

La Martiniere inthree finalsKOLKATA: La Martiniere forBoys outclassed St. HelenSchool to set up a title clashwith St. Lawrence School inthe senior boys’ section of the44th K.C. Mahindra invitationschools regatta at theRabindra Sarovar in the LakeClub premises here on Friday.La Martiniere also reachedthe finals in senior girls’ andjunior girls’ categories.The results (semifinals):Senior: Boys: La MartiniereforBoys(1:55.26) bt St. Helen School(2:11.01); St. Lawrence School(1:57.31) btFuture Hope (2:44.88).Girls: La Martiniere for Girls(2:11.01) btSt. Helen School(2:24.44); Ashok Hall (2:28.63) btSouth Point School (2:33.8).Junior: Boys: South Point School(2:11) bt Future Hope B School

(2:14.38); Khalsa English HighSchool (2:09.57) bt Future HopeSchool (2:26.45).Girls: South Point School(2:27.49)bt Silver Point School (2:43.54): LaMartiniere for Girls (2:28.73) btModern HighSchool(2:32.6).

KARACHI: The Pakistan CricketBoard is likely to send experi-enced batsman MohammadHafeez to England to seektreatment for a knee muscularproblem, which threatens tokeep him out of the Test seriesagainst England.

PCB’s medical panel is notsatisfied with the progressmade by Hafeez from his inju-ry which he picked up duringthe Asia Cup and forced him tomiss the last two matches of the World T20 in India.

“Hafeez, 35, is suffering froma condition known as femurmuscle which is best treated inthe United Kingdom,” thesource said. — PTI

PCB likely tosend Hafeez to England



CMYK

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20 |THE HINDU SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2016

NOIDA/DELHI



A couple of yearsback when I asked Anurag Kashyap,the protégé of Ram

Gopal Varma, where did hismentor lose out, he said,“The day he started losinginterest in what’s happeningaround him, he startedstagnating.” Cut to 2016, and

Varma is showing signs of regaining lost form. Finally,he has moved away from theurban underworld. Onceagain he is showing interestin real life characters. After along unsuccessful run at thebox office, his Killing Veerappan created someimpact among audience andnow Varma has adapted thedocu drama into a Hindi film.“I have not come back I am just coming, holding Veerappan’s hand and he isleading me out of thewilderness,” says Varma inhis typical terse way. With nolocal sentiments to take careof, Varma says, the Hindi version is darker and more violent. In other words here Veerappan will overshadow the officer who killed him.

It has been more than adecade since the forest

brigand was vanquished but Varma feels that Veerappan’sstory is important and thathe is not glorifying acriminal. “Never before inthe history, an independentcriminal, without any organisation or terror group,killed 97 policemen. How didan uneducated villagersurvive for so long in adeveloped country like India,why did it take governmentsof three States to eliminatehim, merits a serious look.” Varma took a break fromHindi films to do research onthe subject. Apart fromscanning police files andchargesheets, he metmembers of Veerappan’snetwork and his wifeMuthulakshmi.

Veerappan is differentfrom Varma’s urbangangsters like Satya, Chanduand Malik. “He grew up inand around a jungle. He ismore like an animal. And in a

jungle you survive by killingother animals,” observes Varma about the mentalmake-up of his subject.

Over the years, a lot of stories have evolved around Veerappan. Varma doesn’tdeny it and says the film isthe truth as he sees it. “Froma guy who knew black magicto a paper tiger, there are allsorts of stories that are doingthe rounds.” Filmy villains

often require some mythicaltouches but Varma sayswhen you are dealing with areal guy you don’t needmythical layering. He saysthe guy had a “massive ego”and that pushed him topunch above his weight andabduct a celebrity likeKannada star Rajkumar. “Hewas essentially a fugitive whodidn’t like to be challenged. When Harikrishna, theSuperintendent of Police,STF, declared that he wouldcatch him in six months, Veerappan vowed to kill himin six days, and he did it.”

Veerappan could havedone without such attention.“When you reach a certainposition, for your myth tosurvive, you have to docertain things.” In that way,he says, Veerappan was nodifferent from theunderworld dons. Ultimately,

Varma says, he just gotcarried away. “WhenPhoolan Devi became aMember of Parliament, hefelt he was more famous thanthe dacoit-turned-politician.If she could become MP, heshould be the Chief Minister.”

However, he denies thatthere was political support to Veerappan and finds hissupposed links with theLTTE as far-fetched. “See,support comes for a price.The benefit has to besubstantial if you support aguy like Veerappan. Youcouldn’t get crores from himand he didn’t command ahuge vote bank either.” As forLTTE, Varma feels Veerappan was not fightingfor a cause. “He had noideology and, in fact, with somuch police presence aroundthe forest, he would have

become a liability for them.”Poaching, he adds, could notearn him big money, becausetusk has no value inside the jungle. Like cocaine, itbecomes precious only whenit travels to street.” He says,like the Robin Hood image, itwas also one of the mythsthat were created aroundhim.

On his meeting withMuthulakshmi, Varma says,“She thinks that Veerappanwas the nicest guy. Shebelieves whatever he did wasfor righteous reasons.” Onetries to draw parallel

between Muthulakshmi andMandodari but Varmarefuses to get carried away.“Of course, she helped medraw the human side of thedacoit, otherwise he wouldhave been reduced to acaricature but I didn’t ask her kitne pyaar se dekhta tha .He didn’t need her support.He used to lie a lot to her ashe could not disclose many things that could jeopardisehis movements in the forest.”

After a long time Varma’sunconventional editingpatterns and camera anglesseem to have found a subject.“I did research that isadequate for the subject andin my films technology always emanates from thesubject. If the character andcontent doesn’t work, thetechnique goes wrong aswell. I am a storyteller, who

goes by his instinct, I don’tplan as such.”He has said this before in

different ways including hisbook but I always find thereis something missing. It isimpossible to believe that theguy who made Satya andRangeela also madeDepartment and Aag . “Youcan’t predict success. Successhappens. And if you don’tbelieve me, it is better to say that the real Ramu is the guy who made bad films. And thegood ones came from a fakeaccount!”

(with inputs by S. Ravi)

(See page 4 for “The imagelives on”)

Out of the jungle?

Ram Gopal Varma returns to Hindi cinema with “Veerappan” to regain lost territory

IT’S ALL IN THE MOUSTACHE! Ram Gopal Varma during a conversation at

The Hindu

office in New DelhiPHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

ANUJ KUMAR

On his social media behaviour

It is a way to attractattention. We do mostthings in life to attractattention. I can’t be hidinglike Veerappan in the forestand no, I don’t draw a linein my life.

CMYK

ND-ND

Delhi

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Follow us onwww.facebook.com/thehindumetroplus

www.twitter.com/thmetroplusmetroplus.thehindu.com

If you don’t believeme, it is better tosay that the realRamu is the guy who made bad films. And the good onescame from a fakeaccount!

,,

Admit two

Film

The 10th edition of theuproarious adventures of the dynamic duo MotuPatlu “Motu Patlu in DoubleTrouble” depicting comedy

of errors will be premieredon Nickelodeon.May 29 at11.30 a.m.

Music

Hardy Sandhu the Punjabisinger with perform livealong with DJ Saransh atBollywood Biistro.Date: May 28

Time: 8 p.m.Venue: Punjabi Bagh, NewDelhi

Performance

Unplugged Courtyard,brings soulful SufiSaturday night with DesiRoots Band presentingtheir songs. May 28,Connaught Place, nearOdean Cinema, New Delhi,8.30 p.m.

“Baithak”

Vocal recital by Arshad Alifollowed by sitar recital byPurbayan Chatterjee.Date: May 28Time: 6 p.m.Venue: India InternationalCentre, Max Mueller Marg,New Delhi

FOOD SPOT P3

AMICI’S FLAVOURFUL PORK

AND TENDERLOIN ENSURE

REPEAT VISITS

HINDI BELT P2

AMRITLAL NAGAR’S CONTRIBUTION

TO HINDI LITERATURE NEEDS TO

BE ACKNOWLEDGED

COMMENT P4

WHY MOVIES BASED ON

BOOKS ARE A

LET DOWN

Indian roads are often clut-tered, chaotic and swarmingwith people. The horn of onecar can barely make itself heard over another, and yet,one musician decided tobrave the streets of Mumbai,to see if his voice holds wateramidst the cacophony of ev-ery day sounds.

Culture Machine’s video,The Roadside Ustad , featur-ing Sonu Nigam clad as a rag-ged old man, with nothing butan old harmonium for com-pany, went viral last week.The three-minute video, re-leased on the channel BeingIndian, has got over a whop-ping 3.7 million views so far.“What you see on the inter-net is a very concise version. Isat in three different loca-tions for almost an hour:

these were random roads, noteven street corners wherepeople stand and chat, and

that too in a city like Mumbai,where people are always in arush. It was intimidating; Ididn’t know what was goingto happen because there wasno point of reference to thesocial experiment we wereattempting,” says SonuNigam.

However, this is not thefirst time Nigam’s creating abuzz online. A few monthsago, a video of him singing on

a flight made news. He’s alsobeen releasing independentmusic videos online. “There’s

no formula to it. The thing is,

you don’t know what peoplelike; you just do what you be-lieve in.” For this video, the

biggest challenge, he says,

was to have the kind of pa-tience the experiment re-quired. “Nobody was looking

at me! I just kept singing. When I was performing out-

side Chandan cinemas, Juhu,there were college studentswho weren’t paying any at-tention, but roadside workerswho were recording me ontheir mobiles. I realised thatmusic does attract attention,if not money.”

For a man who is used topeople cheering, holding uplights and spending lakhs towatch him perform, this wastruly novel. “Nobody recog-nised me and so few really enjoyed what I was deliveringto them. It’s just a perspec-tive I wanted people to be in-

troduced to.”So did he expect the reac-

tion the video received? “This video was meant to go viral. We’re just glad it did.” The Roadside Ustaad , which took the internet by storm, wasone planned “as a small cam-paign” to announce Nigam’selectronic dance single, ‘Cra-zy Dil’, which was released onthe channel Being IndianMusic earlier this week. “Weshot this video in February.There was a lot of planningthat went into it and I sat infor the edit myself, to cut thedance moves right. FarahKhan, Kailash Kher, SunilSingh Grover and RajkumarHirani made cameo appear-ances, and even my son, Ne- vaan, is a part of it.”

So, all that trouble just topromote one music video?“Independent music is slight-ly difficult to promote in In-dia. Music is always

connected to films; it’s timeto look at the music individu-al musicians want to make.”

Sonu’s musical experiment

A still from ‘Crazy Dil’;(right) The Roadside Ustad

The singerdressed as aminstrel for ‘TheRoadside Ustad’as a socialexperiment topromote hislatest electronicdance single

RAVEENA JOSEPH

A roadside story While the roadside Ustad was belting out a num-

ber, one young man asked if he could record him. Thedisguised Sonu Nigam nodded and this man sat nextto him, holding out his phone. Once the song ceased,he asked the Ustad, “Have you eaten?” and gave himRs. 12 for breakfast.

Once the Ustad’s make-up came off and the socialexperiment went viral on the internet, the youngman was sought out and brought to Sonu Nigam’shouse. “I’ve become famous because of you,” he saidand hugged the Ustad with joy. With a slight smile, headded, “You know, I wanted to tell you then, that youwere singing better than Sonu Nigam himself.”

The three-minute video, released onBeing Indian, hasgot over 3.7 million views so far

UNICEF has recently unveiled Fair Start a seriesof films as part of its socialmedia campaign to focus onpersisting inequities facedby large groups of childrenin India. The films give aninsight into the lives of thesechildren from variousbackgrounds who are full of potential but less likely togrow up healthy and safe orattend school or learn andmore likely married aschildren.

It is notable that the serieshas been produced with the

participation of a group of children who brought theirown daily reality to the filmset. Caroline Den Dulk,Chief, Advocacy andCommunication, UNICEFsaid: “The #FairStartcampaign aims at engagingthe larger public in a debateand for everyone to see they have a role to play to makesure every child can have afair chance in life.”

Slice of reality

UNICEF’sinsightful films onchildren



CMYK

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MELANGE THE HINDU Saturday, May 28, 2016 P2NOIDA/DELHI

P2spectrum

Last week, theNationalImplementationCommittee headed

by Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh met to decidethe modalities of commemorating the birthcentenary of Biju Patnaik,Bismillah Khan, AmritlalNagar and M. S.Subbulakshmi. That the listincluded the name of

Amritlal Nagar would warmthe cockles of the hearts of those who love Hindiliterature and are aware of his stupendouscontribution. It’s a happy coincidence that the birthcentenary of Nagar andSubbulakshmi will becelebrated in the same year,as they knew each other

very well.It’s quite ironical that

while the government isdrawing up plans tocelebrate Nagar’s birthcentenary, the Hindiliterary world does notseem to have woken up tothis. Last year, there werenews reports that a meetingwas held at Lucknow’s

Awadh Girls DegreeCollege to flag off his birthcentenary yearcelebrations. But beyondthis, nothing so far.

Nagar was aquintessential Lakhnawiand spent most of his lifeas a tenant in a big, 18thCentury haveli in theChowk area of Lucknow. A keen observer of people,their speech and behaviour,he wrote pen portraits of real life characters thatwere put together in a slim

volume titled “Ham Fida-e-Lakhnaoo” (I am in lovewith Lucknow).

Born on August 17, 1916in his maternalgrandparents’ house in

Agra, Nagar rose to becomeone of the most widely read and respected Hindiwriters whose oeuvre offersenough evidence of his epic

vision and is truly magnificent. It is a sign of his greatness that ShrilalShukla, who himself wasthe much celebrated writerof the novel “RaagDarbari”, accepted theSahitya Akademi’s proposalto write a monograph onhim. Renowned Hindicritic Ramvilas Sharmaused to describe Nagar as“one of the greatwordsmiths of the 20thCentury”.

His magnum opus is“Boond aur Samudra”(Drop and the Ocean)although he received theSahitya Akademi award forhis other novel “Amrit aur

Vish” (Nectar and Poison).Besides being a fictionwriter of considerable

merit, he was also a non-formal researcher whopainstakingly interviewedhundreds of nautch girlsand tawaifs of all classes topen his eminently readablebook “Ye Kothewaliyan”(These Courtesans).Similarly, he travelledthrough the entire area of

Awadh collecting tales, folk songs and anecdotes about

the Mutiny of 1857, now called the First War of Independence. He metmany people whoseancestors had played anactive role in the eventsthat shook the foundationsof the British rule in India.The result was a book, now unavailable, titled “Gadarke Phool” (Flowers of theMutiny). Some excerpts

from it can be read in acompilation of his writingsdone by his son SharadNagar. Titled “AmritlalNagar Sanchayan”(Selected Works of AmritlalNagar), the book has beenbrought out by the Sahitya

Akademi.Nagar is also the only

Hindi writer who haswritten biographical novelson two of the mostcelebrated Hindi poets –Surdas and Tulsidas. Thenovel on Surdas is titled“Khanjan Nayan” (TheDoe-Eyed) while the oneon Tulsidas is called“Manas ke Hans” (TheSwan of Mind), making aword play on the name of Tulsi’s most popular book “Ramcharitmanas”.

In 1935, when Nagar wasa merely 19, he lost hisfather. This forced him togive up his studies and take

up a dispatcher’s job in the All India United InsuranceCompany. It lasted only 18days. In the same year, hepublished a collection of his short stories “Vatika”(Garden) and sent a copy toMunshi Premchand.Premchand wrote a shortletter in reply andsuggested that instead of writing stories in a flowery prose-poem kind of a style,it would be better if hewrote “realistic stories thatare based on life and thatcan shed some light onlife.”

Nagar later said thatthese few lines of Premchand changed thecourse of his thinking andwriting. Between 1935 and1940, he wrote shortstories with a humoroustouch and brought out twoweekly magazines incollaboration withNarottam Nagar andRamvilas Sharma. In one of the magazines titled “AllahDe”, Nagar assumed apseudonym “TasleemLakhnavi” to express hislove for the city.

In 1946, Nagar went toBombay, was hosted by Kavi Pradeep and startedwriting dialogues for Hindifilms. He was also apioneer in dubbing. Hedubbed a Russian film inHindi and also a Tamil film“Meera”. It was during thedubbing of this film that hecame to know its heroine,the one and only M. S.Subbulakshmi, and herhusband T. Sadashivamquite closely. In his tributeto Narendra Sharma who

died in 1989, Nagar recalledthat when Sharma gotmarried, Sadashivam took the newly wed couple,Subbulakshmi and Nagar’swife Pratibha on a maidendrive in his freshly boughtChevrolet car.

In Bombay, Nagar gotinvolved with the All IndiaProgressive Writers’

Association in which hisclose friend RamvilasSharma was an importantfunctionary. He wrote anovel “Mahakaal” on theGreat Bengal Famine,which was re-published in1970 as “Bhookh”(Hunger). Nagar alsoworked for All India Radioas Drama Producer forsome years and, when hisnovel “Boond aurSamudra” firmly placedhim in the front rank of Hindi writers, decided tolead his life as a full timewriter. This was not aneasy decision, but he stuck to it till he breathed hislast on February 23, 1990.

Hindi Belt

That taste of nectar

Nagar is also the only

Hindi writer who has

written biographical

novels on two of the

most celebrated Hindi

poets – Surdas and

Tulsidas. The writer is a

senior literary critic

KULDEEP KUMAR

EXTRAODINARY WRITER Amritlal Nagar

As plans are afoot to celebrate Amritlal Nagar’s birth centenary, it is time to acknowledgehis contribution to Hindi literature

I love open spaces. My large balcony and widewindow spaces are areflection of that. Almostevery object in my home hasits own story; they areconversation starters.It’s like the old shoe boxfilled with shirt buttons,broken collectibles, trinketsand random photographs. Iam sure many of us have itsaved somewhere at the back of our closets; I certainly do.I like to think of it as a box of memories of a childhoodfilled with little adventuresand road trips along the coastof California during college.

My friends and family area huge part of the memories Imade. The memories are inthe form of an old postcard

from a forgotten trip, acollage of black and whitephotographs and vivid

memories, an antique vasethat my mother gave me asa present, my children’sfirst sloppy attempt atpainting among others.

How do you find theright place for things sobeautiful and precious toyou?

When I moved into my home for the first time, thefirst few days were aboutarranging and finding afitting spot for all my things. My shelves wereand have always been aspace that I struggle tomake the best of althoughthey are amongst the firstthings people see whenthey walk into my house. Ihad to find a place to keepmy old Polaroid and my

slightly worn out favouritebook? What if I could useshelves as my bigger box of

memories instead of apointless spot where I pilethings I don’t need?Thenext time you find that vintage piece of jewellery,don’t just stuff it back intoyour drawers. Put it onyour shelf along with asmall antique furniture. Assign a theme to each of these shelves. Createsymmetry by stacking yourmost cherished books nextto a few photo frames.Keep everything that fallswithin the same colourfamily on the same shelf.Lastly, be sure to add arange of balanced heights,layered textures, andgroupings of objects whenstyling this section. Watch your shelves evolve

from being an impersonalspace to one that’sbrimming with fond

memories. The next timesomeone walks up to them,they’ll do so with genuinecuriosity. And this timeyou’ll have a beautiful story to tell them and reminisce,instead of an excuse for anempty or cluttered shelf.

The art of shelfing

SUSSANNE KHAN

is a celebrity interior decorator and styleeditor at The Label

Life

Ace of Space

On the day when youoversleep and hardly havetime to brush and bath,breakfast is the farthest thingon your mind. Imagine how it would feel if it is madeavailable on your way tooffice? Nice and comfy! Thatis what is felt for a sizeablechunk of commuters usingNoida’s Sector 15 Metrostation when for a changethey did not mind the jostling crowds and hot

weather. Why? Because they could avail fresh and pipinghot breakfast –– tasty,hygienic and well packaged–– priced between Rs.50 and70, right at the station. All itrequired was a phone call. Alas! it lasted for two weeks,the duration of the pilotproject run by TravelKhana,a player in food on the move,segment.

Each day a limited optionwas available allowing peopleto try poha, upma, idli, vadaand cheese and vegetablesandwiches. A combo pack too was offered whichincluded a lassi or lemonadeand chips.

Priyanka, a softwareengineer commuting six daysa week from Noida Sector 15to Rajendra Place by Metro,describes those two weeks asblessed. Her regular morning

argument with mother overeating breakfast ceasedtemporarily. “I just hope

they launch it soon so thatmama can wave goodbyecheerfully.” For the Mansoorand Heena the coupleresiding in Dwarka andemployed at Noida’s Sector 6export house the breakfastfacility was of great help.“Preparing breakfast andlunch for two in one go, whenwe need to catch the 8 a.m.train is very tough andtaxing. It was heavenly to getfood the moment we got off the train,” tells Heena. Infact Mansoor has already called up TravelKhanaenquiring as to when thisfacility will be commencedon a regular basis.

Explaining the test run,soon to be tried in Mumbai’s

suburban trains,TravelKhana’s CEO,Pushpinder Singh says it is

essentially to gauge people’sreaction and feedback to theconcept of availability of foodpackets for breakfast anddinner at stations. “Being anew concept we want to getfeedback. Once we have thatwe will launch first atMumbai and then Delhi,” hereveals.

The Delhi pilot has beenpromising. “Many customersordered throughout the twoweeks while many called uplater asking us to continue,”beams Singh. He was happy that people liked the quality of food. “We choose caterersregistered under the FoodSafety and Standards Authority of India. Besidesthe extensive first time auditwe conduct regular auditsfrom time to time ensuringquality, hygiene andstandardisation,” avers

Singh. He emphasises thatcustomers’ complaints aretaken seriously with servicesof many caterers terminatedbecause of unsatisfactory products.

Singh seems assured aboutthe success of his businessmodel which is based on hardfacts. He counts the sizeablepopulation of bachelors andyoung couples among theservice class –– who do notcook regularly at home butyearn for quality food atreasonable prices –– as thebedrock of the business. Thismove on part of TravelKhanais a natural progression forthe company delivering foodpacks to train passengers atthe station of their choice.

TravelKhana is expectedto start operations with anaverage of 110 orders nextyear hoping to grow it by

eight times each year. Thusas of now one must wait forgood times.

Good morning breakfast TravelKhana hopes to serve the hungry right at the Delhi Metro stations

S. RAVI

FOOD ON THE MOVE A view of the Metro at Noida; (below) Pushpinder Singh PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

It required veteran Akshay Kumar to explainhow Housefull 3 isdifferent from the othertwo films of the franchise. While comedy has beenretained, the new addition is Abhishek Bachchan.

At a press conference inNew Delhi, Akshay said:“The genre and thestructure of the movie isthe same as previousmovies. New charactershave been incorporated inthis film which hascreated more comedy andmore confusion. Thosewho liked the first twomovies will definitely enjoy this one because itis triple the fun.”

Sharing his experienceof working with directorsSajid-Farhad, Abhishek said: “I have worked withSajid and Farhad in Bol

Bachchan where they were the writers. They areboth very accomplishedwriters and directors.They are so animated intheir narration of thescript that I feel like themovie is being performedright in front of me.”

Jacqueline said, “Lisa(Haydon), Nargis and Iare playing three sisterswho lie to their dad aboutbeing ‘sanskari’ whenactually they are justnormal girls who also liketo go out and party.”

House of

comedy

Y-Films, the division of YashRaj Films that caters to ayoung audience, claims thatits new web series Ladies

Room is bold enough to gowhere no man has — intowomen’s loos and listen in toconversations.

The six-episode web seriesstars Shreya Dhanwanthary and Saba Azad. Written by

Ratnabali Bhattacharjee andNeha Kaul Mehra, the seriesis directed by Ashima Chib-ber, who made her directorialdebut with Mere Dad ki

Maruti . What would you expect two

women to talk about? Men?Relationships? Ashimabreaks that notion. “In thisseries, you won’t hear thesegirls talking about their boy-friends or who dumped

whom. At least that’s not thefocus. The two are in theirmid 20s, and through theirtalk, you understand theworlds they come from. They discuss their workplace, aspi-rations, promotions, col-leagues and life in general,”says Ashima.

Razor-sharp wit and smartdialogue delivery, Ashimafeels, will make the serieswork. Ashima stepped into

the making of Ladies Room

when the script was ready.She wanted two women wholooked young but came withsome life experience. “For in-stance, Shreya (Dhanwantha-ri) has experiences outside of

acting as well. She has author-ed a book. She is slim, tall,looks hot and has brains toboot,” explains Ashima.

For the crew, the challengewas to shoot within crampedspaces of different wash-

rooms.The story unfolds over a

period of time, so the womenare spotted in both plush andbasic washrooms. “Women’swashrooms have more mir-rors than that of men. When

we were setting up the cam-eras, we had to ensure that

the equipment and the crew shouldn’t be visible from any of the reflecting surfaces,”says Ashima.

At times, crew memberswould set up the lights andstep out and the cinematog-rapher had to be camouflagedto stay invisible. The smallspaces didn’t allow muchroom for movement. “If

you’re shooting outdoor, youcould run with a steadycam

and viewers would know thework that’s gone into it. Tell-ing a story with still camerasisn’t easy. We would shoot 12to 15 pages of the script eachday and I wanted to ensurethat the stories of the twowomen, which lie outside of the washrooms, are conveyedthrough what happens in-side,” she says.

Ashima is working on Mere

Dad ki Maruti 2 and anothercomedy feature is in the off-ing. In the meantime, the webseries was an opportunity toexperiment without the pres-sure of having to meet boxoffice requirements. “In a fea-ture film, you are concernedthat the producer should gethis money back,” she con-trasts.

Ladies Room will be unveiled online on May 31.

INSIDE STORY Ashima Chibber; Shreya Dhanwanthari and Saba Azad in the series

SANGEETHA DEVI DUNDOO

Director Ashima Chibber hopes the new web series willhelp unravel that mystery

What happens in a‘Ladies Room’?



HEALTH FOOD MAY BE GOOD

FOR THE CONSCIENCE BUT

OREOS TASTE A HELL OF A

LOT BETTER.Robert Redford

CHEW ON THIS

Pizza and wine

L’Adresse Kitchen & Bar comes with pairing of food anddrink. Enjoy wood fired pizzas with chilled wine during thefestival. The menu includes BBQ chicken, butter chickenand grilled chicken among others.

Where: Vishal Enclave, Rajouri GardenCall: 3959 5014

OPENING

Sunday feast

7 Degrees Brauhausoffers all fresh andwide selections of live salad anddessert section withelaborate live grillcounters on arelaxing Sunday.These includeOriental chickenwith sesame soya dressing, vegetable crudit chive, Floridacake among others.

Where: South Point Mall, Sector 53, GurgaonWhen: Till May 29Call: 9999486910

HAPPENING

Beer and burger

Pickwicks, the Claridges is hosting the Beer & BurgerFestival bringing chunky burgers to be enjoyed with

American lager.There is Lebaneseone stuffed withchickpea pattie,labneh, pickledveggies or theJamaican chickenamong others tochoose from.

Where: Dr.APJ AbdulKalam RoadWhen: Till

June 18 from7.30 p.m. to10.30 p.m.

OVER-HEARD

Cutting beer

The Beer Café servinga variety of draughtbeers is offering singleserving of the regularFosters and Kingfisherdrink starting atRs.39.

Also beers likeOranjeboom, Bira andHeverlee Witte areavailable for Rs.79and one can tryspeciality brews suchas Hoegaarden, Stella,Erdinger, Paulaners,Fullers and Flensburger amongst others for Rs.129.

Where: In outlets in Delhi/NCR includingJanpath, Nehru Place, DLF Place Saket,GK-2 and Cyberhub Gurgaon amongothers.

COCKTAIL CALL

CMYK

ND-ND


P3goodfood

Once in a while, Idon’t carry foodhome but it iscarried home for

me. A bad lower back hadbeen troubling me for awhile. So I decided that Iwasn’t going to venture outand encourage the shootingpain that had turned from afew episodes here and thereinto a full-fledged attack. Istayed back at home and readmy books, and dinner camein the shape of a juicy tenderloin burger.

Actually, there’s a bit of background to this. A coupleof weeks ago, the better half had gone to Amici Café inKhan Market for coffee withher friends. That day, ourchief cook and I had thoughtwe’d have burgers for dinner.So the BH said she’d bringsome from Amici. But shechanged her mind while shewas there and decided thatshe’d get us pizzas instead. And, then, she changed her

mind some more, and cameback empty handed, aftersending me a text message,urging me to order somepizzas from Slice of Italy.

To be honest, I quite likethe pizzas that you get atSlice of Italy, for it servessome interesting pork ones. Iparticularly like their Oink Oink which has various kinds

of pork products as toppings.So we had a fairly gooddinner of pizzas that evening.

Then, earlier this week,when the BH was on her way to Amici again, and I was laidup with the bad back, wedecided that this time we’dhave the Amici pizzas fordinner. I was keen on thepizza piccante (smoked spicy chorizo, Italian sausages, jalapenos, fire roastedchillies, fresh mozzarella,chopped parsley and garlicbutter crust –– Rs. 520), Butthis time, again, she changedher mind and decided to getus burgers instead. And, onceagain, we didn’t mind, for thechief cook and I love burgers.

For CC, there was abarbecued chicken burger.The choice for me wasbetween the El guapo pulledpork burger and a braisedtenderloin burger. I finally

got the latter.The chicken burger came

with candied jalapenos and

smoked paprika onion ringsand the BH’s juicy tenderloinhad a ground tenderloinpatty and pieces of bacon inbetween two soft burgerbuns. Both were for Rs. 490.My burger (Rs.510) wasdescribed as a six-hourbraised tenderloin sandwichserved with pot-roastedonions, mature cheddar,homemade pickle and butterbrioche. I liked the meatpatty (though it could havedone with a little less salt),and the pickled flavour of theburger.

I am told that Amici isadding new summery dishes,such as a grilled vegetableand crunchy peanut salad. Iam sure light eaters will behappy with that, but I like Amici’s fare mainly becausethis is one place where youget both pork and tenderloin. And there’s a vast menu t o

choose from. The last time Iwas there, I remember eatingsome moist and tender

tenderloin. It was a pleasantevening and we sat out underan open sky.

The day I had my burger,too, was a lovely evening. After days of scorching heatand energy-draininghumidity, a sudden stormand showers had brought thetemperature down. Imunched my burger with my book in hand, and felt atpeace. For the moment, eventhe back pain was forgotten.

Food Spot

When burger beckons

RAHUL VERMA

Rahul Verma is a

seasoned street food

connoisseur

Offering a vastmenu to choosefrom, Amici’sflavourful porkand tenderloin

ensure repeatvisits

DELIGHTFUL DELICACIES Dishes offered at Amici

With summer bringing i n itswake abundance of fresh,delicious and healthy choices, the Plaza PremiumLounge India located inDelhi, Bengaluru andHyderabad airports isoffering a new summermenu. Using the seasonalfruits and vegetables, themenu helps in cooling whilebalancing the diet.

The fare includes sesamechilli chicken with spicedwatermelon salsa, lasagnawith spinach and ricotta,basil chicken and coconutcurry, watermelon andcoconut panna cotta,mango, tapioca and coconutpudding and mangopancakes among others.Incorporating a variety of yoghurt salad dressing, mintaccompaniments andmango dressings makes themenu delicious andrefreshing. Besides a variety of herbs and spices likefennel seeds, coriander,cardamom, saffron, cuminand dill are used in severalrecipes.

For quenching thirst onecan choose from raw mango

panna, jaljeera and othersignature ice teas.

On till July 15.

Light summerflavours

New menu atPlaza PremiumLounge atairports

Social, popular among party goers and food lovers haslaunched its 11th outlet in thecountry. Located at Epicuria,at Nehru Place MetroStation, the interiors of thisplace has been designedkeeping in mind the location.

Entering through thenarrow passageway, one cansee walls covered withpamphlets and leafletsdepicting the Nehru Placemarket with signage NehruPlace Metro Stationreminding one of thelocation.

The place has a stadiumset-up with stairs wherepeople can sit and relax.Besides there are swingingchairs to sit and enjoy foodand drinks. “The stadiumtheme is inspired by how college kids sit on the stairsand socialise. We always try to bring in the local elementin our outlets that's why youcan see old CPU boxes andCRT monitors hanging onthe wall to give it a feel of Nehru Place,” says Riyaz Amlani, MD and CEO of Impresario, the group

managing Social.The place also has aworking area and a

conference room for thosewanting to work in a relaxedenvironment.

The menu of Social isdiverse. The service startsfrom breakfast to catch early birds. There are biryanis andburgers waiting for yourattention, and the variety of street food from Mumbai and

Delhi is appetising. “We havecustomers coming in fromdifferent demographics andhave to cater to everyone'spalate that's why we havesuch a diverse menu,”explains Chef Shamsul. Hesays that the menu is a work in progress as it keeps onchanging. “Street food is alsoour speciality. We are servinggourmet street food andmaking it available foreveryone. Here you can sitand enjoy your street foodwith a drink, without any restrictions,” he says.

The names of drinks anddishes at Social are quirky. While the shots are namedHajmola Shot or Kachcha Aam Shot, one dessert iscalled Ramesh Suresh. “Wewanted the names to soundfamiliar to everyone andmake them nostalgic about

their childhood,” explains SidMathur, the director of Social.

Social expansion

The new Nehru Place outlet offersgreat food and matching ambience

SIDDHARTH SHARMA

FOOD FOR ALL An offering at Nehru Place Social

Enjoy the succulent, juicy and sweet seasonal fruit,mango at Number 8 Kitchenand Bar which is hosting aMango festival. Chef PradeepJugran has curated a specialmenu which includes chilledmango and mint soup,avocado mango andmozarella salad, cucumbernoodle chicken and mangosalad, chicken and mangosummer rolls, jalapenomango chicken skillet andsweet and spicy mango

prawns to name a few. Openfrom 12.30 p.m. to 1 a.m. atSunder Nagar Market.

Mango fest




P4variety

Last week's answer:

Sarbananda SonowalLucy George of DelhiAdmin. Flats, ModelTown I, Delhi wins aprize.

Guess Who

One lucky readerreceives a special prizeevery week.

Student

What is your most prizedpossession?My most prized possession is myfamily because no matter what,they will always be there.If you were granted a wish whatwould it be?I would like to change the mindsetof people who do not value life.What is your biggest fear?My biggest fear is living aworthless life.

Cityzen

The pleasure of coffee and stage

Vibhuti Jaiswal, 20 Neelima Karanath, 19 Layshree Thakur, 19 Ayushka Anjiv, 19

Student

What is your most prized possession?My Google drive full of photos, videosand memories is my most prizedpossession.If you were granted a wish whatwould it be?I will wish everybody to look beyondthemselves and see the biggerpicture.What is your biggest fear?I fear being ill physically or mentallymaking me unable to take care of

Student

What is your prizedpossession?My prized possession is mybest friend.If you were granted a wish,what would it be?If granted a wish, I would belike to become rich.What is your biggest fear?My biggest fear is losing myfamily.What does happiness mean to

Student

What is your prizedpossession?My most prized possession ismy confidence.If you were granted a wish,what would it be?If granted a wish, I would likestay in an Egyptian pyramidfor a day.What is your biggest fear?My biggest fear is that of snails.

For Gaurav Makkar, a 35-year-old fitness enthusiast,winning the title of Ironmanin Spain and now recently inSouth Africa was more aboutmental strength andconquering his worst fears.Though he ran incompetitions and cycled ingyms, the internationaltriathlon makes it mandatory for competitors to not only run for 26.2 miles inmarathon and cycle for 112miles but also swim 2.4 milesin open pool or sea water. Ashe was a novice in swimming,convincing his overtly concerned father was themost difficult part.

Achieving this feat whichrequired him to swimuninterruptedly for over twohours in the MediterraneanSea was like telling a nursery student to give board exam of

Class XII. Gaurav knew hehad to train in a way tocompete at internationalstandards and had to last theentire day of the competition.Even take risk as thecompetition in Spain was justseven months away. “Muchagainst the advice of my friends, every day I swam atBhatkal lake in Faridabad. With 300 feet deep water, Itook the challenge head-on.But in my excitement andeagerness I did not throw caution to the wind. I tied asafety device on my waistwhich would make me float incase I get exhausted whileswimming. Gradually, as Istarted becoming a betterswimmer I went there all onmy own. It was all aboutmastering the techniquewhich I did, but sea water hashigh salt content. So it wasintense seven months of swimming in the lake thatprepared me for thechampionship,” he says.

It was difficult to fulfil allthe requirements of thisinternational competition asage was not on his side. ThisGurgaon resident did nothave to impress his wife orprove a point to hisbusinessman parents. It wasabout convincing himself that even though he neverswam he had the strength,stamina and will power toswim in the MediterraneanSea. In South Africantriathlon in April this year, heswam in the Indian Ocean.

“Mental endurance was theimportant part becauseimpatience, recklessness canmake even the strongestcompetitor walk out. I spoketo myself in a slow drawl tofight my own demons.”

Swimming inMediterranean Sea and

Indian Ocean apprised him of the realities. “Swimming insea water is a differentballgame altogether. As theswimming has to be donecontinuously in the salty water gets inside and makesone feel like puking.”

Recounting his journey inSpain for the first Ironmancompetition, Gaurav says ittook him a month to sign forthe elite race. “I practisedrunning and cycling on roadsfor the triathlon. But threedays before the race my cyclecrashed at Mallorca. A cyclistfell in front of me and to savehim I went the other side.Bleeding profusely and cyclebroken, my chances seemedover. I was low in spirits; my shoulder had given up and Ihad stitches all over my face.Fortunately my brother wasby my side. Though Imanaged to look clean withstitches, I now had to get acycle. I managed one

although it was not like thecycle I trained with. But allthe effort and pain of bruisesdid not matter when it wasannounced that I had becomethe Ironman.”

But surely he could nothave changed the calendardates and become someonein his 20s. “Youngsters have junoon but not the patienceto pursue their dreams. My maturity helped me when Iwas faced with obstacles thatI can fulfil my dreams and domy country proud. All I hadto do was to remain focussed. While swimming in theIndian Ocean I was driftingwith tide, but I remainedcalm and kept on swimming.”

What worked to Gaurav’sadvantage was that his basictraining in yoga helped himretain his mental balance.“After contemplating themove for days, I realised thatthe competition was moreabout mental strength. And itis our ancient yoga which hasthe remedy for fulfilling allour dreams. I did SuryaNamaskar, shirshanas. Apartfrom making me mentally strong, yoga made my legsflexible and strengthened my lower back, which helped mewhile representing my

country.”

The making of IronmanGurgaon boy Gaurav Makkar explains how he pursued hisdreams in an internationally demanding triathlon

FITNESS FREAK Gaurav Makkar

MADHUR TANKHA

Over the years RGV has givenus many actors and changedthe perception about many of them. From Nagarjuna toManoj Bajpayee and Vivek Oberoi to Urmila Matondkar,there are many actors whosecareer graph changed afterworking with Varma. Despitefailure at the box office,actors continue to follow him. The national awardwinning Usha Jadhav, who isplaying Muthulakshmi, saysshe has been following RGV since Traffic Signal for a role.“His research was goodenough for me to create acharacter sketch of Veerappan’s wife. I wantedto know whether she is bitter

now after all thee years of public interest in the caseand his interviews with her

help me create the back story.” Lisa Ray, who hasshed her glamorous image inHindi cinema, to play therole of an informer, says,RGV works fast. “But heallows you to improvise. What is there on the pageevolves into something elseon screen, and this is what anactor hopes for.”

Ultimately, the film will beremembered for SandeepBharadwaj, who looks almostas vicious as Veerappan.Interestingly, RGV finds thetheatre actor, cute. “Aftertwo auditions, I just had thegut instinct that he will fitthe role.” Bharadwaj is madabout details. “I had to lose

weight, trim by eyebrows andtan my body. Also, I had todevelop a body language that

suits the space. The guy hadlived all his life in the junglewhere there is no straightpath and where at times hewalked for 50 kms at astretch. It should reflect inthis gait. So is his coldnesstowards taking somebody’slife.” For this Bharadwajensured that the gunbecomes a part of hiseveryday life, an extension of his body. The moustacheproved to be crucial. “Themoment I put on themoustache, I became thecharacter,” laughs Sandeep.However, will Sachin Joshimatch Shiva Rajkumar as theSP of STF? Sachin, who hasproduced the film, doesn’t

look confident. He is not theonly one!

The image lives on

MAKING AN IMPACT Sandeep BharadwajPHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

A ll I’ve been hearingfor some time now is how fabulous thelatest Jungle Book

movie is. And I am annoyed. Why? Because I didn’t quite

take to the earlier animationfilm either. From what I hearof the current one, it lookslike my cribs are going tocontinue.

Now, before you jumpdown my throat, let me statethat I’m not a movie person.More so when it is moviesbased on books. Take thegrand-mommy of all thosebooks-to-movies transitions.Gone with the Wind . My mommy was ready to disownme when I turned up my nose at Clark Gable. “Toosmarmy and oily,” I said. OrKing Solomon’s Mines . I saw two versions and neither hadmuch to do with the book. Isuppose a man searching forhis estranged brother wasn’tgood enough for the screen. Ididn’t watch any of theLOTR movies but I heard allabout them. A practically

non-existent romantic anglewas played up and that wasgood enough for me toboycott the movies. Or theHarry Potter series. I had my son — who is not a book

person — give me a scene-by-scene description of eachmovie. “So which of thesewas not in the books, ma ?”he would ask. I haven’t yetfigured out if he was makingfun of me or was really serious about plumbingthese differences. Why can’tthey let a good tale be? Why add, subtract, multiply characters till you don’tknow what the hell is goingon?

And now you have The Jungle Book . First gripe: it’sThe Jungle Books — there’stwo of them. The Mowgli

stories account for eight of the 15 tales. There’s muchmore to the books than a boy brought up by the wolves.There’s Kotick, the whiteseal; Rikki-tiki-tavi, theinquisitive mongoose;Toomai of the Elephants andKadlu, the Inuit, and hishusky, Kotuko. Oh, lot’smore! And each story isfollowed by a lovely poem.How about a movie on any of those? On second thoughts,let’s leave well alone.

But to come back toMowgli, since that’s what themovies are about. Whatirritated me most about the

earlier animation film —which I’ve seen, as againstthe current one that I willnot — was the treatment of Kaa and Hathi. How couldthey caricature the two mostdignified creatures in thebooks? Kaa is reduced toworrying about his sinus andknots in his tail, instead of being the menacing creaturethat both Baloo andBagheera step carefully around. Hathi is not a majorcharacter in the recent filmand was reduced to apompous military-mindednut in the earlier film. But, inthe books, he is the Master of

the Jungle. Everyone,including Shere Khan, treatsHathi and his three sonswith circumspection.

Finally, there’s Mowgli’sreturn to the man village.

There’s no young girl makingeyes at him. Instead, it is astory of pain; of a move madewith much sorrow. The taleends with Mowgli sobbing onBaloo’s shoulder, unable toleave; not walking off behinda wide-eyed little girl.

However, with both The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins , I saw the moviesfirst. But after I read thebooks — Maria von Trapp’sautobiography and P.L.Travers’ eight-book series —I just couldn’t deal with asugary-sweet Julie Andrews.Not when both the womenshe portrayed were sodifferent. In herautobiography, Maria vonTrapp writes of how shemarried the Captain morefor the kids’ sakes. Later, oneof the von Trapp childrenspoke of her being a

controlling woman prone torages. Where were the‘Raindrops on roses andwhiskers on kittens’? Mary Poppins was no ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ either. She is a crossnanny who keeps the kids inline through threats. Evenworse, everyday things —even stuff like furniture —take on slightly sinisteraspects. Looking back, Irealise that the books taughtme something valuable. Ididn’t quite get it as a kid,but now I think it is the mostimportant lesson: that mostpeople — even those whocare for you — will let youdown. But you’ll get over itand get on with your life.

Movies indeed! Give methe books any day.

Give me the books any day R. KRITHIKA on why she is always let down by movies that are based on favourite books

Comment

UNLIKE THE ORIGINAL A still from The Jungle Book : there’s much more to the story than a boybrought up by the wolves

I practised runningand cycling on roadsfor the triathlon. Butthree days beforethe race my cyclecrashed at Mallorca…

,,

28-05-2016 - The Hindu - Shashi Thakur

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